The Hajj Season in Palestine, 1440 Hijri

- As noted in the previous episode, the State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB) carried out a compliance audit of Hajj operations for the year 1440 Hijri, and based on the data, documents and records available, we complete in this part some excerpts from the Bureau’s report, which I present below:

- Despite the existence of a Council of Ministers decision concerning (purchase of housing services), which includes representatives from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and the Ministry of Finance to purchase housing services only, the administrative decision concerning the receipt of pilgrims’ housing in both Medina and Mecca did not refer to the presence of representatives from those ministries in the reception committee... the membership of the reception committee was confined to the Ministry of Awqaf only!.. Moreover, the Ministry of Awqaf did not comply with the Council of Ministers’ decision and the subsequent administrative decisions in this regard, as it dispatched two representatives from the Ministries of Finance and Tourism and Antiquities to perform the Hajj under the label of a “ministries’ mission,” which caused the General Treasury of the State to incur financial burdens as a result of paying official work mission allowances to them, and affected the quota of pilgrims who applied to perform Hajj by passing on transportation and lodging expenses of some missions to the pilgrims even though there is no legal framework permitting their participation in the Hajj season.

- Through reviewing the approved list of (muezzins) for the Hajj season, it became clear to us that the Ministry complied only with the legally permitted numerical ceiling that the Ministry may annually send of muezzins to perform Hajj, and did not comply with the other conditions governing the selection process (selection of no more than 50 employees from the muezzins and those working in mosques and the guards of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Ibrahimi Mosque only one time during their service), as some names appeared in the approved list of muezzins who are from outside the category of muezzins specified in the laws, regulations and instructions..!

- The audit team at the State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB) did not obtain full confidence in the proper selection of (guides), as it was noted that the committee selected guides who performed Hajj more than once, and rejected some guides who had never performed Hajj at all despite meeting all the conditions; with emphasis that, according to the Hajj and Umrah instructions, priority in selection is given to those who have not previously traveled with the administrative mission..!

· Financial Affairs:

- The Ministry of Awqaf paid gratuity allowances to 11 of its employees who were assigned to participate in the Hajj season within the administrative mission accompanying the Hajj mission, in the amount of 3,300 dinars... without a legal basis permitting the payment of these gratuities, noting that the aforementioned employees received amounts totaling 16,674 dinars as allowances for participation in official work missions, according to the Official Work Missions System, and that the mentioned amounts were paid from the Hajj revenues and fees account, which affects the Hajj fees appropriation and constitutes duplication in the payment process..!

- There are outstanding advances of various amounts carried over from previous years totaling 25,652 dinars, belonging to employees in ministries and public institutions, without the Ministry of Awqaf having issued a decision concerning those advances or measures to address those amounts that appear annually in the Ministry’s public budget, and we did not find written follow-up by the Ministry with the concerned parties to collect those amounts due to it.

- There is an amount of 149,500 dinars recorded in the President’s office, which represents Hajj fees from previous seasons dating back to 2009, not closed, and no financial claims have been issued for it to date.!

- There is a trust account appearing repeatedly in the Ministry’s general budget, where it appears that these trusts are amounts due from the Ministry of Awqaf to others, and this account has been populated in the general budget since previous years, and balances are carried forward annually without the Ministry taking decisions to address those balances and end the annual carry forward of those balances, noting that most of the trust account pertains to amounts in the Ministry’s bank account as refunds of Hajj registration fees for citizens from previous years who did not claim them back according to procedure.

- The Ministry did not prepare a specific budget for the Hajj season of 1440 Hijri, and link that budget to clear appropriations and expenditure items, which resulted in amounts being spent from Hajj revenue on expenses that do not pertain to it...! The State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB) cannot express an opinion on the correctness of the expenditure due to the failure to link the recorded expenditure to spending items in a specific Hajj season budget.

- Although the legal legislation regulating Hajj season operations permits the Ministry of Awqaf to determine a monetary amount within the Hajj fees as a fee for its services as a ministry, and to determine a monetary amount as a service fee for Hajj and Umrah companies, it was found that the Ministry of Awqaf did not disclose the mechanism for determining an amount of 80 dinars as a ministry services fee and an amount of 80 dinars as a service fee for Hajj and Umrah companies for each pilgrim during the Hajj season 1440 Hijri, without preparing analytical studies of the expenditures incurred by it in managing the Hajj season file, and likewise for the companies, which does not provide assurance that the mentioned service fee amounts are the fair value for those services.

- The Bureau’s report records the response of the entity subject to the report, where the response was positive – according to the Bureau’s explanation – and the Ministry stated that “it will take into account” a number of the recommendations contained in the report.!.. And I say here...commenting...why “it will take into account” a number of the recommendations...and not all of them...?

- Date: 9-9-2021