Guidelines issued to fight corruption

The "Best Practices Guidelines" on fraud control and against corruption in government institutions aims to ensure proper management of public money.

ABU DHABI // The body in charge of scrutinising federal finances has issued new guidelines on corruption, to help ensure proper management of public money.

"Government institutions in [the] UAE are responsible for managing public money, and hold a national responsibility represented in protecting allocated money and making sure of proper use effectively and beneficially," said Harib al Amimi, the president of the State Audit Institution, in remarks to the state news agency WAM.

The "Best Practices Guidelines" on fraud control and against corruption in government institutions were prepared in line with UN anti-corruption measures, the SAI said.

The SAI is responsible for oversight of the finances of the federal government, which includes ministries and UAE-wide federal agencies.

Fraud is one form of financial corruption that is "negatively influencing" the work of federal government entities, said Dr al Amimi.

"This means that [a] fraud control framework is an important preventive procedure and is part of [an] integral process to fight financial corruption," he said on WAM.

Dr al Amimi called on government bodies to implement the new measures contained in the manual.

The manual defines fraud and a "fraud control framework" which helps detect possible fraud cases and instructs government bodies on how to respond to them.

It also describes the role of internal auditors within federal bodies in detecting and reporting fraud, sets out how to protect those whistle-blowers, and outlines disciplinary action against fraud perpetrators.