Vietnam: What are audit-related complaints?

What are audit-related complaints?

Pursuant to the Regulation on complaints, petitions and lawsuits in state audit activities promulgated together with Decision 10/2023/QD-KTNN (hereinafter referred to as Regulations), complaint in state audit activities means the complainant's implementation of procedures prescribed by law, requesting the State Auditor General to review the behavior of the chief of audit delegation, leaders of auditor teams and members thereof (hereinafter referred to as the audit act); review the assessment, confirmation, conclusion, and recommendations of the audit in the audit report, notification of audit results, notice of conclusions and recommendations of the State Audit (hereinafter referred to as audit results) and review decisions on sanctioning administrative violations in the field of state audit (hereinafter referred to as sanctioning decisions) when there are grounds to believe that audit acts, audit results and sanctioning decisions are illegal, infringing upon their legitimate rights and interests.

Vietnam: What are audit-related complaints? (Internet image)

Forms of complaint in Vietnam

Pursuant to Article 5 of Regulation, the complaint shall be made by submitting a complaint letter to the State Auditor General, enclosed with additional information and evidence (if any) proving that the complaint is grounded and lawful. Agencies, organizations, and units shall make complaints through their legal representatives.

The complaint must contain the following principal contents:

- Date, month, and year of making the complaint;

- Name and address of the complainant;

- Name, date, month, and year of the complained document; the name and number of the Auditor's card number of the member of the audit team (if any), the name of the audit team being complained about;

- Complaint content;

- The complainant's reason for the complaint and the complainant's request for settlement;

- Signature, seal (if any) of the complainant;

- Other papers and documents are attached (if any).

Withdrawal of complaint in Vietnam

Pursuant to Article 7 of the Regulation, the complainant may withdraw the complaint at any time during the complaint and complaint settlement process; the withdrawal of the complaint must be made by means of an application with the signature and seal (if any) of the legal representative; the application for withdrawal of the complaint must be sent to the State Auditor General.

Within 5 days from the date of receipt of the application for withdrawal of the complaint, the head of the unit presiding over the audit advises and submits it to the State Auditor-General and orders the State Auditor-General to sign a written notice on the suspension of complaint settlement and send it to the complainant.

Cases not accepting and settling complaints in Vietnam

Pursuant to Article 8 of the Regulation, complaints in one of the following cases shall not be accepted for settlement:

- Audit results, audit acts, and sanctioning decisions are not directly related to the legitimate rights and interests of the complainant;

- The complainant fails to provide information and evidence (if any) to prove that his/her complaint is grounded and lawful;

- Unlawful representatives make complaints;

- Complaints are not in the form of complaints as prescribed in Article 5 of the Regulations. The complaint has no signature or seal (if any) of the complainant;

- Complaints about audit results, sanctioning decisions not issued by the State Auditor, or acts not falling within the scope of their duties and public duties as prescribed by law;

- The statute of limitations for making an audit complaint has expired as prescribed without a plausible reason;

- Complaint has had a complaint settlement decision or the complainant withdraws the complaint.

Mai Thanh Loi

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