Gov’t keen to enhance Audit Bureau’s independence — PM

AMMAN — Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Omar Razzaz on Monday expressed the government’s “full support” to enhance the independence of the Audit Bureau to perform its oversight role in preserving public money.

During a visit to the Audit Bureau and a meeting with Assem Haddad, the bureau's president, Razzaz highlighted the Royal directives to bolster state institutions.

The meeting was attended by Minister of State for Prime Ministry Affairs Sami Daoud and Minister of State for Media Affairs Amjad Adaileh, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The PM lauded the “qualitative leap” made by the bureau in building institutional capacity in the ministries and public institutions to promptly address observations on a monthly basis.

According to the bureau's 2019 report, a total of JD92 was recovered, 33 cases were referred to the anti-graft commission and 20 were referred to the judicial authority, according to Petra.

Razzaz also emphasised the necessity of disclosing information related to mechanisms adopted for preserving public money, drawing attention to the importance of raising citizens' awareness about the right to complain to the bureau, the JIACC, or any related party.

Daoud said that prior to 2018, the failure to take action against accumulated violations had triggered complaints from the public. 

However, with the new approach, based on a monthly review, the number of violations have been significantly dropped, he said. 

The official added that the new approach has enabled the government to retrieve public money promptly.

A good number of institutions and departments registered no violations, thanks to the role of the auditing departments in all institutions, he added.

Haddad, for his part, said that between the start of 2020 and June 30, the bureau issued a total of 74 auditing reports. The number of departments that violated financial regulations stands at 39, he added.

The same period also witnessed savings worth JD14.2 million as a result of cutting costs, according to Haddad.