GCC auditors want more autonomy to curb corruption

Government auditors in Gulf oil producers are planning to ask their leaders to give them more autonomy to upgrade performance at their sensitive institutions within an intensifying war on corruption in the region.

Heads of auditing departments, who had two days of talks in Kuwait this week, said they would present a proposal for more independence to their heads of state during their annual summit in Abu Dhabi before the year end.

The auditors from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) said they had reached an agreement on some recommendations which will support anti-corruption efforts and protect public funds.

The talks in Kuwait came amidst increasing efforts in the region to combat corruption and reports about the discovery of some cases involving misappropriation of funds and other financial offences.

“The meeting agreed on presenting recommendations to the forthcoming GCC summit in Abu Dhabi to enhance the autonomy of auditing departments in member states,” the participants said in a statement at the end of the talks.

“This move is very significant as it will allow these departments to improve performance and better do their job without any obstacle…this will contribute to preserving public funds and fighting corruption.”

After it was a taboo word only a few years ago, corruption is now hitting headlines in the 29-year-old GCC as members step up their fight against financial malpractices and other offences related to corruption.

Most of them have created bodies to combat corruption and introduced stiffer penalties against such offences while others have signed international agreements for cooperation against laundering, corruption and other sort of crimes which they now believe could destabilize their financial systems.

Departing from previous policies when corruption and related crimes have gone almost unnoticed and unpunished, the GCC countries are now publicly reporting such offences, reiterating their commitment to global anti-crime efforts and summoning ministers and other senior officials for unprecedented questioning on suspected misappropriation of funds.

The UAE has emerged as one of the pioneers in the Arab world in the fight against corruption, laundering and other financial offences by signing several relevant agreements with other countries and creating a financial monitoring system to ensure all state funds are managed and spent properly.

The State Auditing Court, created by late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, has uncovered many cases involving misappropriation of federal funds and reported that its surveillance activities have resulted in the recovery of large sums of wasted money and in curbing such malpractices.

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