Investments

Auditing High-Risk Areas Prone to Corruption: A Focused Approach

The State Audit Office has focused its audits on pressing societal issues and areas of high risk, addressing concerns raised by the public and voters. These include sectors prone to corruption, waste, and negative practices, ensuring a thorough examination to mitigate potential risks and enhance transparency.

Administrator

3 December, 2025

State Auditor General Ngo Van Tuan – Photo: VGP

Strict enforcement of audit result disclosure and the list of organizations, individuals delaying implementation.

On the morning of December 3rd, at the National Assembly, summarizing the results of implementing the resolutions of the 14th and 15th National Assembly sessions on specialized supervision and questioning by the State Audit Office, State Auditor General Ngo Van Tuan affirmed that based on the tasks assigned in the National Assembly’s resolutions, the State Audit Office has seriously implemented, disseminated, and synchronously deployed solutions for execution.

Specifically, the State Audit Office has intensified administrative reforms, innovated auditing methods and organization, and vigorously applied information technology in all activities, particularly using artificial intelligence and big data analysis in auditing.

Strict enforcement of audit result disclosure and the list of organizations, individuals delaying or not implementing audit recommendations. Timely urging and resolving difficulties and obstacles in the process of implementing audit recommendations.

The State Audit Office has also closely coordinated with the Government Inspectorate, ministries, sectors, and localities in handling overlaps between inspection and auditing activities, providing timely audit reports to serve the supervision, inspection, investigation, and examination by the National Assembly and related agencies.

The State Audit Office has focused on auditing hot issues of public and voter concern, areas with high potential risks, prone to corruption, waste, and negativity. Simultaneously, to strengthen auditing of urban land use planning and management, the State Audit Office has selected audit themes focusing on evaluating planning, construction licensing, land revenue management, and the arrangement and handling of land and properties.

Particularly, to enhance anti-waste auditing, the State Audit Office has issued many guiding documents, directing implementation, requiring each audit to clearly identify wasteful behaviors and manifestations, specify subjective and objective causes, and the responsibilities of related organizations and individuals, while recommending handling and remedial measures.

Strengthening specialized audits, focusing on “hot” issues.

Additionally, State Auditor General Ngo Van Tuan candidly pointed out that audit results still reveal some limitations. Specifically, in regular expenditures: Budget allocation is slow, repeated, and not aligned with reality; there are cases of allocation without sufficient conditions, leading to non-disbursement and budget cancellation; some allocations exceed limits; and funds are used for unauthorized purposes.

In development investment expenditures, there are still cases of capital allocation without sufficient conditions, not included in the medium-term public investment plan, exceeding implementation capacity or actual needs; low disbursement rates, requiring adjustments or capital plan cancellations; many projects are not cost-effective in design; delayed implementation and usage reduce investment efficiency, wasting resources.

In public asset management and use, there are still cases of abandoned land and properties, misuse, or inefficiency; delayed implementation of rearrangement and handling plans for land and properties. Encroachment, land disputes, joint ventures, leasing, and unauthorized asset lending still occur in many places.

Furthermore, there are still instances of land allocation and leasing violations; land use without decisions or lease contracts; undeclared or unpaid land rent, unadjusted rental rates after the stability period; inappropriate land pricing and plot positioning; and unauthorized exemptions or reductions in land rent.

Through audits, the State Audit Office has also identified inadequacies and limitations in mechanisms, policies, and economic-technical norms not aligned with reality, recommending amendments and supplements to improve the policy and legal framework.

In the coming time, State Auditor General Ngo Van Tuan stated that the State Audit Office will continue to closely follow the leadership of the Party and the National Assembly, comprehensively innovate audit content and methods, strengthen operational and specialized audits, focusing on “hot” issues of voter and public concern; emphasize identifying mechanism and policy inadequacies for improvement recommendations; and contribute to the fight against corruption, waste, negativity, and the practice of thrift and waste prevention.

Hai Lien

– 12:34 03/12/2025