Government Calls Court of Audit Report 'Incorrect and Causing Public Confusion'

Two days after the head of Iran's Court of Audit accused Hassan Rouhani's government of financial disorder and 'selling the future,' the government spokesman described the report as 'causing public confusion.' On Friday, the Planning and Budget Organization, which is part of the government, had issued an official statement calling the report 'one-sided' and unproven. The head of the Court of Audit, Adel Azar, in a television interview last Thursday, accused Rouhani's government of financial disorder and 'selling the future,' stating that the government's debt had increased by '229 percent.' The Tasnim news agency, close to the Revolutionary Guards, quoted Azar's interview saying, 'The government is selling the future, and this is a sign of public financial disorder.' Azar also mentioned that in comparison to the previous year, 1394, the level of violations and deviations from the budget law by the government in 1395 had increased. The budget audit report, which is prepared annually by the Court of Audit, essentially reviews the financial performance of each government over the course of a year. In response to this negative remark, Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, head of the Planning and Budget Organization and also the spokesman for Rouhani's government, on Saturday, February 7, described the Court of Audit's report as 'causing public confusion and being exploited by hostile media.' According to the official news agency of the Islamic Republic, IRNA, Nobakht also complained about why the Court of Audit had not informed the Planning and Budget Organization about the 'existing ambiguities' so that they could respond. Azar stated that Rouhani's government had ignored '55 percent of budget regulations' in 1394, but this figure had increased to '65 percent' in 1395. Nobakht commented on the non-deposit of certain revenues into the treasury mentioned in the Court of Audit report, saying, 'Our performance in the treasury shows how much has been deposited, and the documents are available, and the Court of Audit can request documents from us.' Nobakht, who had organized a press conference on Saturday to respond to the Court of Audit, attended the meeting with Bijan Zanganeh, the oil minister, and addressed most of the criticisms raised by the head of the Court of Audit. The head of the Court of Audit also named the National Gas Company of Iran as 'the most undisciplined state company in 1395,' stating that 'about 24 trillion tomans in revenue from oil subsidiary companies, including the National Gas Company, the Refining and Distribution Company, and refineries, were not deposited into the treasury in 1395.' In response to this criticism, the head of the Planning and Budget Organization said, 'If there was a violation in the 1395 budget, it should be sent to the prosecutor's office and then follow the established procedures, not for the Court of Audit to claim that an agency has not deposited thousands of billions of tomans and not even ask questions to clarify ambiguities, which has its own consequences.' Previously, the Planning and Budget Organization had also responded in detail to each of the criticisms raised by the Court of Audit in its official statement, concluding that 'despite all the limitations and the remaining effects of the oppressive sanctions of bullying powers, the trend of economic and budget indicators in 1395 was positive and defensible.'