State Final Account of Palestine for 2018/2019

-        Reservations of the State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB) were reported on the financial statements and their notes attached to the State's final account for the years 2018 and 2019, submitted by the Ministry of Finance and Planning, as stated in the Bureau's annual report for 2021 and published on the Bureau's page on 27-7-2022....

-        There are more than 34 major reservations regarding violations by the Ministry of Finance and several directorates and responsibility centers; we list below (some of them), noting that these reservations came from only a sample of those audited by the State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau..!

·       Violations of the General Petroleum Corporation

-        The General Petroleum Corporation did not comply with the Licensing System regarding the renewal of fuel and gas station licenses, contrary to the provisions of Cabinet Decision No. (17) of 2008 concerning the Licensing System issued by the General Petroleum Corporation, with respect to renewing fuel station licenses and regularizing the status of all stations by following up on the annual renewal of station licenses and operation.

-        The General Petroleum Corporation did not form a committee specifically for station licenses, contrary to the provisions of Article No. (7) of Cabinet Decision No. (17) of 2008 regarding the Licensing System (sequence No. 9).

-        The General Petroleum Corporation did not obtain the bank guarantees required from stations for licensing purposes, contrary to the provisions of Article No. (9) of Cabinet Decision No. (17) of 2007 concerning the Licensing System issued by the Cabinet, which stipulated: "After obtaining the initial approval to establish the stations and for the purpose of obtaining the permit to commence construction work, the concerned person shall be notified and tasked with bringing a bank guarantee in the amount of 100,000 dollars (sequence No. 10)..."

-        The General Petroleum Corporation granted licenses for existing fuel stations in violation of the Licensing System, as the Corporation issued operating licenses for some stations without following the licensing procedures stipulated in the system, imposing a fait accompli policy manifested by the establishment and operation of some noncompliant stations (sequence No. 11)...!

·       Violations of the Anti-Corruption Commission

-        Failure to prepare a monthly report on its trust funds (amanat), and to correspond with the Ministry of Finance regarding them, and failure to follow up on movements recorded in the trust funds account and to perform reconciliations periodically, contrary to the provisions of Article No. 107, paragraph 3 of the Palestinian Financial System of 2009, which stipulated: "Each directorate shall be committed to providing the General Accounts Directorate in the Ministry (of Finance and Planning) with a monthly report for all types of trust fund accounts it holds, accompanied by the bank reconciliation report", and contrary to the text of Article No. (109), paragraph (3), which states: "The Accounts Directorate shall perform a periodic reconciliation every 3 months between the balances of the trusts recorded in its registers and in the directorates' registers."

-        Failure to open a special register for the trust funds, through which the accounting movements related to the trusts are recorded, including deposits and issuance of trusts, contrary to Article No. (108), paragraph (2), of the Palestinian Financial System of 2009, which stated: "Directorates are required to open registers for the trusts they hold, in which the trusts are recorded according to their purposes, types, amounts, receipt voucher numbers, and the names of their beneficiaries"..!

-        In the absence of control procedures over the trust account of the Anti-Corruption Commission, the Commission did not respond to the Bureau's correspondence to provide confirmation of the balances of the Commission's trust funds, which does not give assurance about the correctness of the Anti-Corruption Commission's trust balance; likewise, there are movements on the account related to cash deposits for which the related cases were not disclosed, and the Bureau was not provided with case numbers, which leads to an inability to verify the account balance..!

·       Violation of the Ministry of Finance

-        The Ministry of Finance failed to comply with Article No. (25) of Law No. (1) of 1997 by not reviewing the trust funds of the Execution Courts' fund, which have lapsed and converting them into Treasury revenue if their beneficiaries did not claim them by submitting to the Execution Directorate within 5 years, contrary to the provisions of Article 167 of the Execution Law No. 23 of 2005, which states: "The cash and in-kind trusts deposited in the Execution Fund, or obtained by the Directorate, or recovered from the judgment debtors at the request of their owners, if their beneficiaries do not claim them from the Execution Directorate within a period of 5 years, starting from the notice paper or the date of its announcement in the newspapers, according to the proper procedures for those of unknown residence, the right to claim them shall lapse, and they shall be recorded as revenue for the Treasury General"...!