Palestinian Anti-Corruption Commission

-        The State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB) in Palestine carried out an audit examination of the work of the Palestinian Anti-Corruption Commission, as it is one of the entities subject to the Bureau’s auditing – the General Department for Oversight of the Economic Sector -, for the period from 1-1-2010 until 15-5-2019. The audit covered the following topics: the Commission’s financial statements, the Commission’s compliance with laws, regulations and other organizational procedures, general supplies, appointments, promotions, official job duties, and external training courses. The Bureau reached the following main observations:

-        The Commission did not return the cash surpluses from its annual general budget for the years (2010-2018), which amount to more than 13.5 million sheqels, to the general treasury, contrary to the provisions of Article (53) of the general budget Law No. (7) of 1998 concerning the organization of the general budget and financial affairs.

-        Preparation of the general budget and its ratification: the Commission did not prepare its annual budget according to the budget preparation bases applied in ministries and public institutions, and the Commission also did not prepare the necessary studies to implement previous budgets, identify deviations, and address them in future budgets.

-        Expansion in financial and administrative independence, contrary to the legislator’s intent in the following items: failure to comply with the constitutional text regarding open competition for filling positions through adherence to external announcements for all vacancies it has, in addition to not adopting regulations and instructions regarding appointments.

-        Borrowing employees from public institutions (ministries and governmental departments) to work in the Anti-Corruption Commission, considering that both institutions (the lending entity and the borrowing entity) have their budgets included within the general budget of the state.

-        Calculation of years of experience and seniority for its employees in contravention of the provisions of Articles No. 20 and No. 12 of the Anti-Corruption Commission’s regulations.

-        The Commission did not prepare the National Strategy to Combat Corruption for the years (2015-2018), contrary to the Commission’s powers pursuant to the provisions of Article 8 of the Anti-Corruption Law No. 1 of 2005 and its amendments, despite the Commission allocating the amount of 1,000,000 dollars annually in the budgets for the years (2016-2018) under the item of the National Strategy...

-        As for the Commission’s response to the report, the report stated that the Commission replied to the report and provided justifications; however, the Bureau affirmed the observations contained therein, in a remark from the Bureau that can be understood as showing its lack of conviction by the justifications..!