Mr. Shuro Hikita was appointed as the president of the Board of Audit on February 18 ,1997 succeeding Mr. Shinji Yazaki who had retired on September 27, 1996.
Mr. Shuro Hikita joined the Board in 1959 after graduating from the University of Tokyo. He had worked in various Important positions in the Board before his appointment as Head of the Japan SAI. Among the post held by him are Director of the first Railways Audit Division, Director General of 1st. Bureau, Deputy Secretary General, Secretary General and Commissioner
Mr. Nontaphon Nimsomboon has been appointed
Auditor General Of Thailand by the King upon the recommendation,
after the consent of both the Cabinet and the Parliament , of the
Prime Minister. He succeeds Mr. Punya Stithit who retired on
September 30th 1997 Prior to his appointment as Auditor General ,
Mr. Nontaphon Nimsomboon had served for six years as Deputy Auditor
General. He entered Government service in 1967 as lecturer at
Thammasat University and joined OAG in 1972.
Apart from his government service he has also served as President of the Institute of Certified Accountants and Auditors of Thailand (ICAAT), Council Member of ASEAN Federation of Accountants(AFA), Executive Committee Member of Confederation of Asian and Pacific Accountants (CAPA).
Mr. Nontaphon Nimsomboon holds bachelor degrees in Commerce(with honours) and in Accounting from Thammasat University in Thailand and a Masters degree in business administration from University of Iowa, USA.
His Majesty the King of Nepal has appointed Mr. Bishnu Bahadur K.C. the Auditor General of the Kingdom of Nepal on the recommendation of the Constitutional Council, subsequent to the retirement of previous Auditor General Mr. Bimal Raj Basnyat on August 7, 1997. Prior to his appointment as Auditor General, Mr. K.C. was Deputy Auditor General, since March 31, 1995. Mr. Bishnu Bahadur holds Masters degree in Commerce and Bachelor of Law from Tribhuvan University Nepal. He is decorated with medals by His Majesty the King in recognition of outstanding performance.
Born in April 1948, in western Nepal, he entered in government service in 1964 and audit service as Audit Officer in 1971. He has obtained training in financial management from U.S.A. and participated in various international seminars and workshops. He has also served in other government organisations such as Cabinet Secretariat and the then Commission on Prevention of Abuse of Authority (CPAA) on deputation from the audit office.
Associated with various social institutions and actively involved in social work, he is the first Auditor General appointed from within the audit service of Nepal.
In accordance with the new Constitution which came into effect on January 1, 1998, the post of the Auditor General has been created. Mr. Ismail Fathy, Minister of State, who was in charge of the Audit Office from November 11, 1993 to December 31,1997 has been appointed as the Auditor General.
Before he was sworn into office as the Audito[asdr General, Mr. Fathy was incharge of Audit Office. He also was Vice Governor of the Central Bank since its inception on July 1, 1981 till November 11, 1993.
Mr. Fathy was incharge of the Ministry' of Finance for 1 7 years of which the last 4 years he served as the State Minister of Finance.
He was also the Governor of IMF for Maldives from April 25, 1 989 to November 30, 1993 and Vice Governor of ADB for Maldives from July 1, 1981 to April 24, 1989. He also served as the Governor of IFAD and also a Member of Parliament appointed by the President.
Mr. Fathy has travelled widely and represented Maldives in various international seminars and conferences.
Having completed his tenure as Auditor General of Pakistan, Mr. S.K. Mahmud retired on July 13, 1997.
Mr. Manzur Hussain is the new Auditor General of Pakistan. He took his oath of his office on July 19lh, 1997. Mr. Manzur was the senior most serving officer of Accounts Group in the Government of Pakistan and thus brings with him a rich experience of working in various senior assignments of audit and accounts, administration, budget and economic management.
Mr. Manzur Hussain has worked as Chief Accounts Officer/Accountant General in the then T&T Department, Joint Secretary Budget to the Government of Pakistan, Joint Secretary Development Ministry of Health and Joint Secretary External Finance in the Finance Division. In the Establishment Division he worked as Joint Secretary and subsequently as Additional Secretary.
He was promoted in May 1994 as Federal Secretary - the highest bureaucratic position in Pakistan. At the time of his appointment as Auditor General of Pakistan he was working as Chairman/Federal Secretary of the National Tariff Commission. He has received extensive training in Pakistan and abroad and has represented Pakistan in various International Seminars. He is widely travelled and is fluent in English.
Mr. Spyros Christou was appointed by the President of the Republic as the new Auditor General of the Republic of Cyprus, succeeding Mr. Theophilos Theophilou from July 1, 1997.
Born on December 12, 1938, Mr. Christou obtained in 1972 the professional accounting qualification of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants of U.K. He was appointed in the Government of Cyprus on April 1, 1957 and from January 1, 1977 served as Deputy Auditor General of the Republic of Cyprus.
Since 1983, he is a member of the Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting of United Nations. He has participated in several International Seminars, workshops and Conferences on auditing and accounting.
While the journal was at the final stages of printing we got the information about changes of the heads of SAIs of Indonesia, Korea, Maldives, Papua New Guinea, China, and Turkey. The brief on these new heads of SAIs will be covered in our next issue of the Journal-1999.