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The Peninsula
Doha: The General Authority of Customs (GAC) is committed to developing the best practices for its internal audit to ease workflow and improve efficiency, the Director of the Internal Audit administration, Khaled Hamad Al Kaabi, has disclosed.
In the GAC's monthly newsletter, Al Kaabi highlighted the department's responsibility in ensuring the GAC's operations go smoothly but stressed that training and skills development are vital components of its future goals.“The Internal Audit administration is keen to develop and know the best practices for the benefit and improvement of the administration's field of work through providing training courses to provide the employees with more experience and skills, developing the work of the administration through the assistance of a company specialised in the field of information technology auditing and cybersecurity,” Al Kaabi stated.
He added that there are plans to establish an internal audit programme to archive and extract the administration's reports, including a reference library for laws and instructions related to the field.
Al Kaabi also disclosed that the internal audit department comprises financial audits and administrative oversight. According to him, the administration monitors compliance with the implementation of laws, regulations and decisions relating to the authority's activities, reviews the financial documents and instructions and proposes the necessary amendments, oversight of staff recruitment procedures and other personnel matters and makes administrative inspections and monitor staff members' obligation to working hours and attendance.
It also has audits and reports on fraud and administrative and financial corruption to ensure public funds are not wasted and used for purposes other than those for which they are intended as part of its responsibilities.
Meanwhile, the GAC announced it recorded 231,014 released data in February, less than the 246,190 recorded in January. The Air Cargo Customs and Private Airports Administration filed 195,254 of the total figure, while the Maritime Customs Administration released 11,802 statements. The Land Customs Administration, on the other hand, managed 6,704 completed reports.
The report said 99 percent of the data was released within an hour. It also disclosed that the Ministry of Culture was the Best Government Entity in average release time, concluding its processing of documents within 4.39 hours. The GAC also transferred 22,230 data to other government agencies during the same month.
On the trade front, China remained the top import country, while India maintained its position as the top export country. Customs officials recorded 162 seizures in February, with 62,700g of narcotic cannabis (hashish) being the largest.