Audit Report on the Diwan of the Chief Justice for the Fiscal Year Ended 2022

· From the State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB) annual report for 2024

· Does this make a difference in the life of the citizen in Palestine?

· Episode No. (4)

· The State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB) in Palestine seeks to entrench the concept of its mission in its financial and administrative oversight of the entities subject to its audit... namely “making a difference in the life of the citizen,” and in my opinion, this is not achieved except by the compliance of the entities subject to the Bureau and by taking its recommendations and observations into account as binding, and work must proceed on that basis.. Conversely, when there is indifference in some positions of responsibility, and the financial actions there do not conform to the standards, regulations, provisions, and laws governing these positions.. we will see material violations at these positions of responsibility when they deviate from the Bureau’s recommendations and observations.. regarding uses of public funds at centers of responsibility

· I wonder, as a follower or reader of the annual SAACB reports, most recently for 2024, I am concerned that there are substantive reservations and observations regarding the course of public work in centers of responsibility.. that are almost similar and repeated in many of the Bureau’s annual reports.. For example, in most centers of responsibility in the governance sector (civil and security) that were mentioned in the Bureau’s 2024 annual report, it was observed that the committee or unit of public oversight.. in some of these centers... does not exercise its assigned oversight tasks and authorities, in accordance with its statute.. nor are internal oversight departments activated as stated in a report on the work of some governorates from the governance sector (civil and security) referenced above, in addition these committees or oversight units do not prepare reports on the activities of directorates and departments

· Such oversight departments are necessary for substantive auditing and for preparing periodic reports concerning public funds and their uses, and the extent to which they conform to the laws, regulations and standards established for uses of public funds, thereby consolidating the concept of governance in centers of responsibility, including transparency..

· Today we briefly review one of the Bureau’s audit reports on the work of the Diwan of the Chief Justice for the financial year ended in 2022, among a number of reports directed to the governance sector (security and civil).. and we see the nature of the material observations in one center of responsibility in the governance sector.. This report dealt with financial and administrative affairs, supplies, warehouses, inventory movement, and government vehicles.. for the year ended 2022, and the Bureau’s reports for the governance sector (security and civil) amounted to eleven reports

· General objective of the report

• The audit report issued by the State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB) – Palestine, addresses the work of the Diwan of the Chief Justice for the financial year ended in 2022.
• It is part of a series of reports aimed at entrenching the concept of oversight and achieving a tangible impact in the life of the citizen, by obligating the audited entities to take the Bureau’s observations and recommendations into account.
• General context

• State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB): seeks to ensure compliance with regulations and laws, improve the use of public funds, and activate internal oversight departments, governance and transparency.
• Main problem: There are repeated material observations in previous reports, which reflects weak responsiveness to the Bureau’s recommendations and the continuation of financial and administrative violations.

---

· Nature of the reports issued to the governance sector (civil and security)

• Their number reached eleven reports covering: courts, governorates, Dar al-Ifta, the Alimony Fund, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Authority for Military Retirees… etc., and we will comment on them successively through consecutive episodes on my Facebook page and my blog page as shown below..
• The current report focuses on the Diwan of the Chief Justice.

· Key observations on the Diwan of the Chief Justice

· First: Administrative and oversight deficiencies

1. Failure to activate the internal oversight unit or to staff it with employees.

2. Absence of an accounting program for fee collection, relying on manual ledgers.

3. Absence of a paper register for fixed assets, with reliance on editable Excel files.

4. Failure to conduct an official periodic inventory of assets and warehouses.

· Second: Violations in appointments and positions

· A number of positions in the Diwan of the Chief Justice were replaced after the honorable Chief Justice wrote to the Civil Service Bureau to replace some titles that had been listed on the staffing table.

· 22 contract employees were made permanent without external announcement or competition.

· 21 employees were appointed on a day-wage basis with the same violation (without announcement or external competition).

· A “driver” employee was appointed in a department that does not contain government vehicles.

· A female employee was seconded to a non-governmental institution (the Samaritan Museum) in Nablus.

· Third: Financial violations

· Payment of a monetary allowance to the President’s escorts contrary to Cabinet decisions.

· Charging the Diwan’s budget with expenses not belonging to it (travel of the Dean of Al-Azhar Institutes).

· Absence of a clear mechanism for disbursing bonuses.

· Failure to deduct 5% tax from amounts paid to arbitrators as withholding tax at source.

· Fourth: Violations in the management of government vehicles

· Issuing some vehicles contrary to regulations.

· Failure to place identification plates on all vehicles.

· Failure to convert vehicle plates from green to red, according to the system.

· Obtaining vehicles from other institutions and using them without proper regulatory documentation.

· Fifth: Violations in arbitration fees and case distribution

· Failure to open a bank account dedicated to arbitration fees and storing funds in court safes.

· Absence of fair criteria for distributing cases among arbitrators.

• Summary of the report :
• The report highlights weak compliance with governance and financial and administrative oversight standards, and the continuation of these violations may impede the Bureau’s mission of "making a difference in the life of the citizen"., therefore there is a necessity to obligate the audited entities to implement the recommendations immediately.