Special Rentals for the Security Sector in Palestine

- From the report of the General Administration for Oversight of "الحكم" مدني وأمن in the State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB): the following observations were included in the Bureau’s 2021 annual report, on an audit report titled "special rentals for the security sector for the years 2019 and 2020".

- It is clear that there are violations in the security sector of the instructions, regulations and laws that govern rentals. I noticed that there are observations that lift the veil on obvious neglect and lack of discipline at the administrative level in adhering to instructions and laws in the area of rentals, as I pointed out, and the report was submitted by the Bureau to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Interior. The observations in it were responded to by the military financial administration, without the Bureau mentioning any comments of its own to inform the reader about the reaction and the extent of their responsiveness to corrective action.!

- Some of these observations are listed below:

- It presented the laws that govern the rentals item in general, including rentals of private buildings, where the leasing process relies on the Jordanian law and its amendments.

- There is no specific, modern Palestinian system, law, or legislation that governs and organizes the leasing process.

- The Palestinian financial system did not regulate the leasing process in general, but rather referred to the conditions for liquidating the expenditure in the leasing process and the financial ceilings for units leased to ministers and those equivalent to them.

- The Exceptional Regulation for the Security Agencies for 2010 did not regulate the leasing mechanism for residential apartments for officers, personnel accommodations and security headquarters, but only determined the financial ceilings for renting residential units for the leaders of the security agencies only.!

- The Central Rentals Committee did not review old rentals and evaluate them, contrary to the committee formation decision issued by the Ministry of Finance.!

- There is no reasonable confirmation about the need to lease premises for certain entities, as the relevant entities do not have data and information about the nature of their use.!

- Apartments, houses and accommodations were rented for officers and personnel of some security agencies, where there is no confirmation, data or information with the entities concerned about the need to rent them and the nature of their use, namely whether they are for individuals or accommodations for personnel outside the governorates.!

- There is no system that permits the use of rented buildings as housing and houses for officers and personnel of the security agencies.!

- Buildings were rented as housing and houses for some agencies whose nature does not necessitate personnel accommodations, since their work ends at 3:00 and does not require 24-hour operation, such as the General Administration of Military Finance, the Directorate of Political Guidance, Military Sports and other agencies.!

- There is no confirmation of the need for the continued presence of old rented headquarters, in light of some agencies’ purchase or construction of headquarters in accordance with Council of Ministers decisions to rationalize public spending, particularly rental expenditure.!

- There is a lack of coordination between the parties concerned with the leasing issue, as some buildings are rented by the Ministry of Finance and others by the Central Financial Administration.

- Leasing is often done directly, and the Central Rentals Committee is not consulted, as its role is limited to completing and documenting the leasing process.!

- Some lease contracts are not approved by the Rentals Committee and by the Council of Ministers, contrary to the Council of Ministers’ decision on the matter.!

- The head of the security agency does not approve new lease contracts, and they were not approved by the General Administration of Military Finance.!

- A special committee was not formed to study the issue of properties rented by the government or those whose rents the government covers.

- The continued coverage of the private apartment rental allowance for some employees after the end of their services.!

·      Date 23-8-2022