Supreme Audit Court of Iran - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Supreme Audit Court of Iran (SAC) is a government agency of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Located in Tehran

Tehran

Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...

, it is supervised by the Iranian Parliament and dates back to 1906.

Articles 54 and 55 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran define the objectives and responsibilities of SAC, the most important duty of the organization being the preparation of the government's Budget Liquidation Report, as specified by article 55 of the Constitution.

The state body is tasked with controlling "financial operations and activities of all ministries, institutions, government companies and other organizations which in any manner whatsoever benefit from the state budget."

Since 2010, SAC has been charged with supervising the Iranian Economic Reform Plan

Iranian Economic Reform Plan

The Iranian targeted subsidy plan also known as the subsidy reform plan was passed by the Iranian Parliament on January 5, 2010. The government has described the subsidy plan as the "biggest surgery" to the nation's economy in half a century and "one of the most important undertakings in Iran's...

. SAC also monitors the Oil Ministry’s deposits into the state treasury

Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance (Iran)

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finances function are:*acting as the state treasury,*public finance,*economic and financial policy making,*implementing tax policies,*in charge of foreign direct investment,...

on a monthly basis.

"$1 billion missing oil money"

In May 2009, SAC reported that 1 billion was missing from Oil Stabilization Fund. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the issue of the 'missing' $1 billion from the country's currency reserve fund is in fact an "accounting error." However, the claim prompted a firm response from SAC which rejected any talks of "accounting errors" and rebuked the government for providing "insufficient answers" in the case of the missing $1.058 billion oil money.

SAC defended both methodology and accuracy of its work and revealed that there had been 1463 cases of infractions regarding the country's 2007-2008 budget. According to SAC's report, illegal payments to some government officials accounted for a large part of the infractions while there were also cases in which the government had acted against the articles of the budget law.

In December 2010, Supreme Audit Court (SAC) Director Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said that the case was mentioned in a report presented to the Majlis and the report neither called it fraud nor said the money was missing, but only referred to it as "a deficit in the account".

Criticism

According to Freedomhouse "SAC is little more than a ceremonial body because judges appointed by the regular judiciary often overturn its verdicts". They are also not permitted to inspect any of the finances related to the Revolutionary Guards, which is where most of the corruption within the country is believed to originate.

Asked whether Transparency International

Transparency International

Transparency International is a non-governmental organization that monitors and publicizes corporate and political corruption in international development. It publishes an annual Corruption Perceptions Index, a comparative listing of corruption worldwide...

's recent report on administrative corruption in Iran

Corruption in Iran

The Islamic Republic of Iran suffers from widespread corruption.- Corruption levels :According to Transparency International, which publishes the annual Corruption Perception Index, in 2009 Iran fell from 141st on the list of 180 countries to eighth from bottom – one of the most marked...

corresponds to the findings of the Supreme Audit Court, SAC Director Fazli said the report is based on criteria that the SAC does not recognize. "This does not mean that Iran rejects the report and the country should make efforts to fulfill their criteria," he added.

External links

Supreme Audit Court - Linked to the Iranian Parliament
General Inspection Office - Linked to the Judiciary of Iran
Iran Audit Organization - Linked to the Ministry of Economic and Finance Affairs
Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance (Iran)
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finances function are:*acting as the state treasury,*public finance,*economic and financial policy making,*implementing tax policies,*in charge of foreign direct investment,...

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"$1 billion missing oil money"

Criticism

See also

Further reading

External links