State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB) Annual Report 2023

·       First episode: "Report on the inventory of the General Petroleum Corporation’s warehouses at the end of 2022" General question: Why the repetition of this neglect and negligence regarding the General Petroleum Corporation’s warehouses?.. Where is the accountability?

·       Despite the events and the war of annihilation and destruction being carried out by the Israeli occupation army and its partners, and still... from countries nearby here... and others far away there, against our Palestinian people in Gaza ..and the West Bank ..indeed against every Palestinian anywhere in this world, even before him!! .Oversight of public work remains, on the other side of Palestinian society’s life that does not stop, ..a necessary responsibility, for public work must be governed by laws and regulatory legislation so that its implementation can be monitored in accordance with these laws and legislation..and otherwise, failure to hold officials and employees accountable.. for manifestations of neglect, negligence, and indifference in public service facilities, leads to an environment rife with chaos and corroded by corruption.. which results in the destruction and loss of these facilities... and the squandering of the nation’s resources and hopes..!

·      The State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB) in Palestine is considered the sole oversight instrument over public work...in the absence of an active Legislative Council that the Bureau originally reports to directly, so that the goal of its reports is not to win the trust of the audited entity (as stated in the report’s introduction: " and issuing relevant reports that enjoy the entity’s trust and in a timely manner")...rather their aim should be to win the trust of the citizen, whom the Bureau oversees, in order to improve the quality of public work for the benefit of all citizens..!

·       The Bureau’s annual report for 2023 was issued on 26-6-2024. It reached 174 pages....The report has received many views on the Bureau’s website since its issuance up to mid-day 21-7-2024, when it reached 257 views...And although these views are few, because the report’s issuance is still recent....we must dedicate the principle of citizen participation in oversight of their money and resources; one of these means of participation is reviewing such annual Bureau reports, which remain, despite the absence of a full legislative system and a sustainable true democratic life, the only available oversight mechanism that issues professional reports concerning public work...Despite the level of the Bureau’s powers granted to it through alternative frameworks..where its reports remain mere non-binding recommendations..and this appears from the level of compliance with its recommendations contained in its reports as we stated above....half the number of entities subject to the Bureau’s oversight, which exceed 4,000 audited entities..usually do not respond to the Bureau’s reports..

·      Through its field teams in 2023, the Bureau issued (93) audit reports, (42) follow-up reports on recommendations, and also followed up approximately (323) complaints and notifications submitted to the Bureau by various segments of society through the Bureau’s different contact and communication channels..These reports were distributed by sectors, including: cultural and social services (12 reports), the nongovernmental organizations and non-profit companies sector (10 reports), the governance sector (civil and security) (11 reports), the local government institutions sector (31 reports), and the economy sector: (10 reports) and others from other sectors.

·      I will select and present one of these reports from among the reports of the different sectors in each post I write, and today’s episode is about:

·       Report on the inventory of the General Petroleum Corporation’s fuel warehouses at the end of 2022..

·       The Bureau participated in the fuel warehouses inventory committee of the General Petroleum Corporation as an observing member, where the Bureau reviewed the entries in the Bisan program and performed a reconciliation with the confirmations submitted to the Bureau by fuel and gas supplying companies, without conducting a document audit, and the following was recorded:

·       "Differences in the balances of some types of fuels through the inventory of petroleum warehouses, between the actual balance of fuels and the book balance (Bisan)"

·       A decrease in the quantity of fuel loss was noted at the end of 2022 compared to what it was in 2021, which requires the Corporation to investigate the causes of the quantity loss, represented by the existence of risks of errors occurring, or shortages in the quantities received, resulting from the absence of meters when receiving purchased quantities, or the absence of regular calibration of point-of-sale meters, or spillage of quantities, and other reasons that may lead to loss!

·       Book balances of fuels: The differences between the actual fuel balance in some warehouses and the fuel balance recorded in the Bisan program (the cash balance) were not adjusted on an ongoing basis, which resulted in the inaccuracy of the book balances of fuels, and consequently in cumulative differences that will affect the accuracy of the balance in subsequent years, thereby affecting the accuracy of the financial data..!

·       No gas warehouses: The fuel warehouses inventory committee of the General Petroleum Corporation did not inventory the gas warehouses, which led to not knowing the actual balance of gas quantities in the warehouses!!

·       No installation of Corporation-owned meters to measure fuel quantities: Despite the Bureau’s reference in its previous reports to the need to install meters to measure fuel quantities entering the warehouses, this has not yet been adopted to measure the quantities of fuel delivered to the warehouses through meters owned by the Corporation..!

·       The many questions posed by any observer, based on the recurrence of such violations, negligence, and neglect..are: why have the negligent been not held accountable? And the careless? And who is the one who does not comply with the State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB)’s recommendations? For years past.

·       The General Petroleum Corporation is an important responsibility center that deals in cash in its purchases, with amounts that are the largest among other responsibility centers in the country...One wonders in this regard that if a person had a small grocery store, its owner would certainly know what enters his shop and its sales..and thus would continue in the market..But in the case of the Corporation...I ask...what does it mean that there are no meters to measure incoming and available quantities and to determine the loss (which is the most important and fundamental matter in such responsibility centers)..This raises more than a question mark..Why? And who throws all the State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB)’s recommendations regarding public funds into oblivion..and does not comply nor lend an ear! Who are the officials or employees who supervise or carry out the work amid this neglect and indifference, at a time when the Petroleum Corporation suffers huge indebtedness over the years, whereas in such responsibility centers in the fuel sector there should be a cash surplus, and this center should be a creditor..not a debtor..! Had such neglect and negligence occurred in the private sector, the negligence would not have continued for days..but would be immediately addressed....and the root of the neglect would be cut at once..!