State Audit Office taken to task during Senate meeting

The State Audit Office’s (SAO) efficiency in ensuring that taxpayers’ money is spent efficiently by state agencies was questioned on Monday, during a debate in the Senate over the SAO’s performance during the 2025 fiscal year.

Taking to the Senate floor, Senator Yukol Chanawatpanya wondered whether the SAO has performed its duty properly in protecting state funds, when it claimed that it had uncovered a huge financial loss, because taxpayers are demanding to know how much of the loss has been reclaimed by the SAO or compensated.

“How many cases of losses are there and how many cases are still pending? How many people are being held accountable? Yukol asked, adding that the key role of the SAO is examination and protection of the use of taxpayers’ money.

The senator specifically cited the case of the collapse of the SAO building, while it was still under construction on March 28 last year, following a devastating earthquake in Myanmar.

He said he wonders whether the SAO will continue to construct a new head office or whether the project has been scrapped.

He also cited the repeated accidents related to the construction of the Rama 2 expressway, asking whether the SAO has looked into the project and been able to identify what is causing the delays and when it will be completed.

He said that the public is losing confidence in the SAO, adding that he would prefer to use the amount of state funds actually being protected from abuse or reclaimed as the key performance indicator for the SAO.

Regarding the collapse of the SAO building, ombudsman Monthien Charoenpol told the Senate that the investigating committee had concluded that it stemmed from errors in the design and construction, which were not in compliance with professional engineering standards.