KUWAIT: Kuwait's State Audit Bureau examined 2,647 financial transactions between April 2020 and February 2021 with a value of KD 2.8 billion ($9.2 billion), and disapproved 113 transactions valued at KD 281 million ($928 million), a SAB official said yesterday.

Loulwa Al-Fozan, auditor at the social affairs department, said in a statement 92 percent of transactions worth KD 2.6 billion ($8.5 billion) were related to government budgets, and the rest belonged to budgets of independent authorities.

The auditing took place between April 1, 2020 and Feb 28, 2021. The pre-auditing process, she added, did not include transactions related to sale and purchase of oil and byproducts or investment. Fozan said 73 percent of transactions, or KD 2 billion ($6.6 billion), have been approved, of which 65 percent were conditional on completing financial and technical procedures.

The pre-auditing department informed SAB's financial penalties department about violations committed by some departments which carried out transactions without obtaining SAB's approval, she said. Fozan said SAB recommended disapproving 113 transactions with a value of KD 281 million ($928 million) because they would inflict damage on public funds.

Throughout the auditing process, she said, SAB also succeeded in preventing waste of KD 75 million ($247 million) in public funds due to variation in prices and quantities. - KUNA