Article 16 of the Saudi Financial Control Law

This article opens Chapter Four on the oversight bodies, which under Article 1 are: the General Court of Audit, the Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority, and any other body competent in the oversight of public funds.

What the article provides:

• The Ministry cooperates with the oversight bodies.
• For two purposes: protecting public funds, and ensuring that roles are complementary and consistent in carrying out the jurisdiction of each of them.
• The Implementing Regulations clarify the Ministry's relationship with the oversight bodies; the article does not give the details of this relationship.

The basic idea is that oversight of public funds is not handled by a single body, but is divided between the Ministry of Finance and independent oversight bodies. The Law is therefore careful that a number of bodies does not become overlap or duplication of work. This concern appears elsewhere in the Law:

• The definition of financial control in Article 1, which states that it does not extend to the jurisdiction of the oversight bodies.
• The objective of organizing and integrating roles between the Ministry and the oversight bodies in Article 2.
• The Ministry's powers in Article 4, which it exercises without prejudice to the jurisdiction of the bodies concerned.

The key phrase in the article is "each of them": cooperation does not mean merging jurisdictions, but each body performing its own jurisdiction in a way consistent with the work of the others. This article does not place direct obligations on individuals, but it explains how the tasks of protecting public funds are shared out. Anyone who needs to understand which body is competent for a particular oversight matter can consult a lawyer specialized in administrative cases.