56 ALRAQABA . ISSUE 18 SAIs’ Role in the Fight Against Corruption Introduction: Corruption poses a huge threat to the security and stability of societies because it is considered one of the main obstacles to sustainable development. Therefore, INTOSAI established a Working Group on the Fight Against Corruption and Money Laundering (WGFACML). Since its establishment in 2001, WGFACML was keen on preparing manuals and guidelines to provide technical support to SAIs in the field of fighting corruption and money laundering. In addition, the WG prepared ISSAI 5700 - Guideline for the Audit of Corruption Prevention – which was approvedby INTOSAI in June 2016. It aims to help auditors audit and review anti-corruption policies and procedures in government institutions within their SAIs’ scope of power. Although most SAIs handle some investigations related to corruption which, in fact, are fraud cases, this particular standard does not address fraud investigations. Therefore, some SAIs don’t undertake such investigations because they don’t have sufficient knowledge or resources. The issue lies in the difficulty to detect corruption because there is no direct link between the act of corruption and those who are affected by it, given that society and the economy as a whole are the victims who suffer from the cost of corruption. There is no unified definition for corruption since the UN Agreement did not specify one definition for corruption. However, they mentioned several types of corruption. On the other hand, ISSAI 5700 referred to what is called the “practical definitions of corruption,” which were approved by Transparency International. They defined corruption as the abuse of vested jurisdiction to acquire personal gains. On the other hand, the World Bank defined corruption as the misuse of public funds or positions for personal or political gains. Others see corruption as every behavior that leads to wasting public funds. However, this definition addresses one type of corruption, which relates to wasting public funds and does not address other types of corruption such as monopoly or environmental pollution, which do not lead to wasting public funds. Audit Vision Jumana Al Mannei Associate Auditor, Independent Bodies of Financial and Investment Affairs Audit Department
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