The Minister for Finance, Mr Pierre Laporte, received the special audit report on STC Cold Storage Facility Project on behalf of the President of the Republic. The audit was commissioned under Article 158 of the Constitution. The Auditor General submitted the report to the Minister and presented the audit findings and recommendations at the press conference held at State House. The report makes 13 findings, 4 conclusions and 7 recommendations based on the audit work carried out in accordance with the applicable auditing standards and practices.

Auditor General of Seychelles has been appointed to the Board of Auditors (BOA) of SADC institutions for a three-year term effective from 2026.  Seychelles will assume the chair of BOA in 2028. The BOA is constituted as the external audit body in line with article 29 of SADC treaty, and mandated to audit the headquarters, other organs and satellite offices of the regional body. The types of audits that BOA is mandated to perform include financial, performance and IT audits. In addition, BOA may consider performing special investigations at the request of SADC council of ministers. BOA reports the results of its audits to the SADC council of ministers through the audit committee.

Established under Article 14(1) of SADC Treaty in 1992, SADC has a membership of 16 countries including Seychelles. SADC is mandated to promote regional integration, peace and security, and socio‑economic development for the benefit of its member countries.  While the executive powers of the regional body are vested in the office of the Executive Secretary, deputy executive secretaries and directorates, the governance and oversight functions rest with the council of ministers, audit committee, finance committee, internal audit and risk management committee and the board of auditors. 

In this regard, Auditor General is appreciative of the continuous support and co-operation extended by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Diaspora.

Auditor General submitted his annual report for 2024 to the Hon. Speaker of the National Assembly, as required by the Constitution and the Auditor General Act, 2010. The report was submitted well within the statutory deadline set by the Constitution. The report contains the audit findings, recommendations and follow up reports on the remedial action taken by MDAs in response to previous audit findings.

On receiving the report, the Hon Speaker appreciated the existing collaboration between the Assembly and the OAG and hoped that the oversight role of the two respective offices would ultimately benefit the people of Seychelles.

OAG is in the process of digitalizing its audit management process, thus paving the way for more efficient and productive audit work.  As the first step, OAG recently obtained a software from the AFROSAI-E, regional body of English speaking SAIs, and commenced training on the application of the same. The training of the core group was conducted by two experts from AFROSAI-E following the installation and customization of the software. The ultimate objective of the implementation of the software is to conduct more audits in an efficient manner with adherence to the auditing standards (ISSAI) relevant to the supreme audit institutions.

A high level delegation of five senior officials from the China National Audit Office (CNAO) visited OAG Seychelles in December 2025. The week long working visit was undertaken under the existing MOU between the two SAIs. OAG and CNAO signed the MoU five years ago in 2019, however, could not operationalize it due to various constraints. This visit marks an important milestone in the relationship between the two SAIs. The delegation met with the Auditor General and his senior audit management team for discussions on a number of matters of interest to both SAIs. Delegates shared their experiences in the use of AI audit tools, Big data analytical tools, audit of budget implementation and the audit of state owned enterprises. Chinese delegation appreciated the independent legal framework which governs the SAI Seychelles and was keen to learn on the implementation of its various provisions. The four-day visit ended with an excursion to the creole village.

Office of the Auditor General (OAG) of Seychelles and the Accountability Authority of the UAE (AAUAE) entered into a memorandum of understanding for the furtherance of collaboration between the two SAIs in the field of public sector auditing.

While OAG is the supreme audit institution (SAI) of the Seychelles, the AAUAE has a similar mandate extending over the 7 emirates of the federation. The mandate of AAUAE is much larger in that it encompasses the anticorruption laws as well as some powers to regulate the auditing and accounting profession in the federation. Both entities are members of the global confederation of INTOSAI the membership of which extends over 196 countries and territories in the world.

The MOU will facilitate better, formal exchange of knowledge, ideas, practices and methodologies in the field of public sector auditing with a view to learn from each other and improve on areas where one is lacking in knowledge and expertise. The two SAIs will engage in discussions over emerging areas, such as, sustainable development reporting, changing SAI auditing standards, emergence of more robust PFM frameworks, debt management strategies, use of AI driven tools in the audit work and automation of audit processes. Other areas of interest for both SAIs include conducting impactful audits in the areas of budget execution, state-owned enterprises and big data mining.

SAI Seychelles (OAG) hosted the 21^st Governing Board meeting of the AFROSAI-E and the strategic reviews during 19 to 21 May 2025 at Savoy Resort in Seychelles. The event was attended by almost 150 delegates from 26 member countries as well as various stakeholder institutions. At the opening ceremony, the vice president, Mr Afif, representing the President of the Republic, delivered the key note address. On the second day, the Chair of the FPAC, Hon Pillay, delivered the key note address of which the key points were later put to the panel discussion.  OAG Seychelles was able to conclude the event on a high note with all participants expressing their satisfaction and their desire to revisit Seychelles in the future. 

Photo source OAG