Kuwait's auditor calls for fight against corruption

Combating and eradicating diverse forms of corruption is a national duty and all citizens and authorities should play an effective role at this level to boost transparency and accountability, said the Chairman of the Audit Bureau yesterday. It is high time for supreme auditing authorities to play their roles effectively to fight and eradicate corruption," said Abdulaziz Al-Adsani, in a statement following a joint conference, organized by the Asian Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI) and the European Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (EUROSAI), recently held in Turkey. These authorities should cooperate with other institutions for the sake of protecting national resources against illegitimate exploitation," he stressed. He said the conference was held in response to desire of member states to acquire and exchange expertise and skills for performing supervision and auditing effectively. As to the role of the national auditing apparatus, Al-Adsani affirmed that the staff have been performing their tasks according to Law Number 30 (1964), stating that the auditing 'diwan' works independently from the executive and legislative branches (the government and parliament). The Audit Bureau observes measures and implements certain rules to ensure legitimacy of tenders regarding imports and public works, projects, commitments or contracts related to state rights and liabilities," he said, indicating that deals or projects worth KD100,000 or more are subject to the bureau's scrutiny. Elaborating on the issue, Al-Adsani said the diwan investigates cases of embezzlement, negligence, financial irregularities, flaws in work regulations, the auditing and administrative rules and systems, adopted by the state authorities and establishments. He also affirmed keenness on using modern techniques for enriching skills of the personnel and ensuring early pin-pointing of defects, irregular or illegal conducts. Shedding light on some of the bureau's current tasks, the country's top auditor indicated that the personnel were preoccupied with reviewing and updating the law of public tenders (number 37, 1964). In his elaborated statement, Al-Adsani affirmed the need for greater cooperation between the regional and international authorities and innovating new techniques and means to wipe off corruption, spread transparency and realize optimum investment of the public funds for service of high national goals. The recently convention grouped delegations from Kuwait, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, South Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam. Conferees adopted "the Istanbul Memorandum" stipulating broad-lines for boosting cooperation among the member states in this realm.