The Bulgarian National Audit Office became a member of the INTOSAI Working Group on fight against corruption and money laundering

Bulgarian National Audit Office became part of the international professional community of Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) that cooperate in the fight against corruption and money laundering. During the 16th Annual Meeting of the INTOSAI Working Group on Fight Against Corruption and Money Laundering, the Bulgarian NAO was accepted as a full member of the group. This opens up new opportunities for research and introduction of international experience, best practices, methods and techniques for conducting audits in the field of prevention and combating corruption.

The objectives of the Working group are:

Promoting international cooperation in the fight against money laundering, both between SAIs and with other international organizations.

Identifying and sharing anti-money laundering policies and strategies within SAIs' competences and powers.

Designing and promoting policies, strategies and actions within the international anti-money laundering legal framework of each SAI.

The BNAO participants in the meeting were: the President of the Bulgarian National Audit Office Dimitar Glavchev, the Vice – President Goritsa Grancharova – Kozhareva, the director of the Performance audit directorate Rossena Gadjeva, the head of Department I, Performance Audit Directorate Dileta Kassabova – Tokatliyan, as well as the director of International Relations and Projects Directorate, Kosta Stoyanchev.

The main topic of the meeting was "The role of the Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) in employing the artificial intelligence in fighting corruption". The participants exchanged experience and gave examples of the use of machine learning algorithms in the analysis of large databases to detect risky financial transactions. Those examples highlight the increasing use of artificial intelligence in external auditing in the public sector.

Among working group members are the supreme audit institutions of the EU member states Austria, France, the Czech Republic and Poland. The representatives of SAI of France and SAI of Austria shared their experience of EU SAIs in auditing topics related to corruption.

Within the framework of the forum, the President of the Bulgarian National Audit Office Dimitar Glavchev held an official meeting with the Chairman of the Working Group, Mr. Hesham Badawy, President of SAI of Egypt and INTOSAI First Vice – President. The two discussed the future contribution of the Bulgarian National Audit Office in the activity of the working group, including the commitment of the Bulgarian SAI take part in the subgroup, led by the SAI of France, for the development of a Guideline for audit of national systems for prevention and fight against corruption and to publish the results and recommendations at INTOSAI level.

The Bulgarian NAO President Dimitar Glavchev also held a working meeting with Mr. Prajuck Boonyoung, Auditor General of the State Audit Office of the Kingdom of Thailand, as well as with Mr. Ren Hongbin, a member of the senior management of the SAI of China. The SAI of China is chairing the INTOSAI Working Group on Big Data, whose activity is thematically related to the use of artificial intelligence in auditing to identify cases of corruption and money laundering.