The Supreme Audit Court of Iran (SAC) (Persian: دیوان محاسبات کشور) is a continuation-based organization of Iran. Located in Tehran, it is supervised by the Iranian Parliament and dates back to 1906.
Articles 54 and 55 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran define the objectives and responsibilities of SAC, the most important duty of the organization being the preparation of the government's Budget Liquidation Report, as specified by article 55 of the Constitution.[1]
The state body is tasked with controlling "financial operations and activities of all institutions, companies and organizations which in any manner whatsoever benefit from the state budget."
Since 2010, SAC has been charged with supervising the Iranian Economic Reform Plan. It is also in charge of the supervision of the National Development Fund of Iran.
According to SAC's report, illegal payments to some government officials accounted for a large part of the infractions while there were also cases in which the government had acted against the articles of the budget law.[2]
In December 2010, Supreme Audit Court (SAC) Director Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said that the case was mentioned in a report presented to the Majlis and the report neither called it fraud nor said the money was missing, but only referred to it as "a deficit in the account".[3]
See also: Corruption in Iran. According to Freedomhouse "SAC is little more than a ceremonial body because judges appointed by the regular judiciary often overturn its verdicts".[4] They are also not permitted to inspect any of the finances related to the Revolutionary Guards, which is where most of the corruption within the country is believed to originate.
Asked whether Transparency International's recent report on administrative corruption in Iran corresponds to the findings of the Supreme Audit Court, SAC Director Fazli said the report is based on criteria that the SAC does not recognize. "This does not mean that Iran rejects the report and the country should make efforts to fulfill their criteria," he added.[3]