Audit Bureau, UNICRI delegation talk oversight cooperation

Amman: Head of Audit Bureau of Jordan, Dr. Radhi Hamadin, on Sunday met with a delegation from the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI). During the meeting, Hamadin said the bureau audits 300 national entities subject to its supervision, including companies in which the government owns 50% of the shares or more, with total budgets estimated at JD13 billion. Hamadin also said cooperation with other institutions concerned with oversight is carried out according to the "highest" levels to spare effort and time aimed to enhance accountability, which would increase citizens' confidence in state institutions. For his part, the UNICRI delegation head, James Shaw, said Jordan is one of the "pioneering" countries in the Middle East region, indicating that the meeting comes within framework of looking into possibility of launching joint cooperation to reduce organized crime, especially in financial areas. Shaw expressed the UNICRI's readiness to provide technical support to the Jordanian bureau through official channels and learn about the best international practices, especially in combating financial crimes under the partnership project funded by the European Union with multiple Jordanian institutions. The UN official said the bureau has "long accumulated" experience in reducing corruption cases, especially since it is directly linked to the Jordanian Parliament. Additionally, he noted UNICRI's readiness to provide technical support to the bureau in reducing tax evasion as well as providing expertise in forensic financial auditing by recruiting experts from other countries with a "long" history to transfer expertise to the Jordanian oversight agency. Source: Jordan News Agency