CAG Rajiv Mehrishi elected external auditor of WHO

NEW DELHI: Comptroller and Auditor General Rajiv Mehrishi has been elected as the external auditor of the World Health Organization (WHO) for a four-year term from 2020 to 2023, beating supreme auditors of UK, France, Northern Ireland, Tunisia, Ghana and Congo who competed for the position.
The CAG of India was elected with a majority 90 votes out of 162 in the first round of voting which was held at the 72nd World Health Assembly in Geneva on May 23.
This is the second major international audit assignment for the CAG this year following his selection as external auditor for Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome earlier this year in March, according to a CAG press note.
The CAG of India is currently also on the board of auditors of the United Nations and Vice-Chair of the UN Panel of external auditors.
The CAG of India has been playing an important role internationally. Recently, CAG Mehrishi had attended the 6th Global Audit Leadership Forum (GALF) in Shanghai, a select group of supreme auditors from 24 countries, who meet annually to discuss current and emerging issues of concern, the CAG said.
“The discussions in the GALF meeting focused on big data and auditing and improving public accountability through environmental auditing,” it said and added that the delegates from 15 countries agreed to strengthen bilateral and multilateral exchanges in the field of audit using big data to share best practices.
On the environmental auditing, the global auditors felt the need for collaborative audits in areas such as climate change, disaster preparedness and management, water management including allocation and quality of water, air quality, etc. The next meeting of GALF will be hosted by CAG of India in 2020, the CAG said.