State Audit reviews 2013 results, outlines 2014 plans

Deputy State Auditor General Le Minh Khai
 

The special audit on usage, management and rent collection of land is reportedly a point of focus in the SAV’s 2014 plan. Could you elaborate on this?

Land is a special asset of great value. Therefore, its use, management and rent collection is getting particular attention from National Assembly members and the public. Some are saying the current use and management of land is not effective enough, and in some cases even hurting the economy. That is why this year we are set on carrying out a special audit in the ‘compulsory’ content of our audits of the state budget, capital and assets in 14 government cities and 35 localities.

Land audits will run parallel with our other work this year.

Auditing state corporations, groups and state-owned commercial banks serving economic restructuring was also made an operational focus. Why is the SAV only auditing the Mekong Delta Housing Development Bank (MHB) this year, and not others?

Last year the SAV audited Vietcombank, Vietinbank and Agribank. Earlier in 2012, the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) was also audited. The only remaining bank was MHB.  For the remaining four banks, due to still finite resources we are focusing on auditing financial leasing businesses under these banks that have not yet been audited carefully. 

Will financial businesses be put under the SAV’s microscope this year?

Yes. Apart from auditing the five financial leasing companies under the banks I mentioned before, we will go ahead with the audit plans for the State Capital Investment Corporation, Bao Viet Corporation, Bao Minh Joint Stock Corporation, Petrolimex Insurance Joint Stock Corporation and the Debt and Asset Trading Company (DATC).

The financial sector is a sensitive area. In fact, we uncovered numerous violations when we audited financial businesses under state groups, corporations and commercial banks. Some were critical and led to significant losses such as the case of Agribank’s Financial Leasing Company. That is why this is such a focal point of our efforts this year.

What is your appraisal of the outcome of last year’s audits?

Last year we conducted 151 audits and of these, 150 have already reached a conclusion and we found issues with VND22.7 trillion ($1.08 billion), as such we collected an additional VND4 trillion ($191 million) for the state coffers. According to tax collectors nationwide, receipts show an additional VND2.5 trillion ($123 million) still needs to be paid. The sum we found problems with last year was VND8 trillion ($380 million) more than 2012. This was not because there were more violations, but because we chose to audit major state groups, corporations and banks.