The State Audit Organization and the State Inspection Authority of Laos have uncovered massive losses of over LAK 1.5 trillion and USD 147,387 this year.
The two inspection authorities recently announced they had discovered corruption-related losses totaling trillions of kip this year, by Socio-Economic Newspaper reports.
Inspection authorities were able to recover approximately LAK 32 billion, USD 116,896, and 19 plots of land.
The State Inspection Authority said it had investigated 24 suspects, 16 of whom were government employees, finding a total of LAK 208 billion, Baht 331 million, and USD 14.3 million in losses.
Some 191 state investment projects worth over LAK 2 trillion were also investigated, with 50 projects unaccounted for, causing LAK 520 billion in losses.
Authorities also seized some 290 tons of illegal timber and arrested 25 people over logging offenses, while the State Audit Organization investigated 2,788 illegally constructed timber processing facilities, with 1,636 of them being shut down.
Laos was perceived to be the third most corrupt country in the ASEAN bloc in 2020, following Myanmar and Cambodia, however, the country’s ranking has improved by eight points since 2012.
