The INTOSAI Working Group on the Fight against Corruption and Money Laundering was established in 2007. It associates a dozen or so Supreme Audit Institutions from all around the globe that work on developing general guidelines on the fight against dangerous financial mechanisms. What do the Group’s activities look like behind the scenes? What is the most difficult for the auditors from all these countries? What direction are their arrangements taking? Do they understand the phenomena of corruption and money laundering in a similar way? Mr. Zbysław Dobrowolski, NIK’s economic advisor who represents Poland in the working group, is answering these questions.
Interview with Mr. Zbysław Dobrowolski on the INTOSAI Working Group
Corruption - universal phenomenon
What added value do the meetings of the Working Group have? Within the past 15 years, NIK has done a lot to prevent corruption. We have plenty of materials that we can share with others - says Mr. Dobrowolski. And he emphasises that the Working Group’s meetings are an inspiration for NIK. An example can be the project of the Venezuelan SAI, which takes actions to mobilise and strengthen the civil society. Venezuelan auditors invite the citizens and non-governmental organisations to fight against corruption together - says NIK’s economic advisor. And he stresses that it is a very interesting and considerable direction. All the more so because the Working Group’s activities apparently aim at activating societies of individual countries.
Recently, the INTOSAI Working Group on the Fight against Corruption and Money Laundering has met in Sopot (1-4 October). The conference was attended by auditors from Austria, China, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, Germany, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Lesotho, Malaysia, Mexico, Namibia and Russia. The group is currently chaired by the Supreme Audit Institution of Egypt. The Iranian SAI arrived at the meeting as an observer but during the conference it became group member.
