Khaberni - Radhi Al-Hammad, the president of the Audit Bureau, emphasized the importance of bilateral cooperation between the Audit Bureau and the Independent Election Authority in auditing the parties' budgets, and automating this process to achieve the principle of governance which leads national institutions, including the parties, to be more transparent and honest in both the data of their members and their budgets in addition to saving time and effort.
Al-Hammad stated during the seminar held on Thursday at the Audit Bureau, attended by the president of the board of commissioners of the Independent Election Authority, Musa Al-Maaytah, and senior staff of the Authority, that the role of the Audit Bureau is a major supporter of all state institutions, especially those concerned with supporting political and party life in the kingdom, chiefly the Authority,
adding that the Audit Bureau provides all its capabilities and expertise to assist the Authority in auditing the budgets of the parties pursuant to Article (3) of its law which states that the Audit Bureau has several tasks including: supervision of public funds to ensure their legal and effective expenditure, and providing advice in accounting to the entities under its supervision. Similarly, Article 29 (a, b) of the Political Parties Law No. (7) for the year 2022 states that the council (the board of commissioners of the Independent Elections Authority) or its delegate has the right to inspect the party accounts, audit its financial records, and prepare a report thereof, provided that a copy of it is sent to the secretary, b: the authorized person may be a certified accountant or a delegate from the Audit Bureau.
Al-Hammad pointed out that the Bureau had previously organized in April 2024, an international seminar with the "INTOSAI" organization about party financing, their experiences, how to audit their budgets, and the donations made to them in countries which are comparable in size to the kingdom such as the Balkan states and Georgia by supreme audit institutions, with the goal to gain expertise from these experiences and utilize it in the auditing process conducted by the Bureau on the budgets of the Jordanian parties, to ensure that they comply with the applicable laws and regulations to achieve governance.
For his part, Al-Maaytah confirmed the importance of the partnership with the Audit Bureau as an institution concerned with preserving public money, and its role in auditing the financing of political parties, and establishing the principles of governance and achieving transparency.
He added that the legislator allowed the board of commissioners of the Authority to choose an external auditor or to seek assistance from a delegate of the Audit Bureau, but the board of commissioners, trusting the work of the Audit Bureau, chose it as the entity to audit the budgets for the parties, and provide the Authority with the observations.
Furthermore, Al-Maaytah mentioned that the Authority is striving to develop continuous party work, through the establishment of good governance standards for the parties, which all political parties have committed to amending their internal systems according to the law, and the Authority is also working on adopting a special electronic system for the parties, aimed at speeding up achievement, accuracy of work, and reducing human intervention in its procedures.
