The Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs and Management of Endowment Properties in Palestine

· The Diwan conducted a compliance audit regarding the role of the General Administration of Endowment Properties at the Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs in supervising and monitoring endowment properties for the year 2018, and the main findings of the report are as follows:

- There are a number of systems that address issues of managing and developing endowment funds, and it was observed that there is a lack of cohesion and clarity in the mechanisms for monitoring endowment properties, and an absence of implementation of Cabinet Decision No. 68, 61 for the year 2004 regarding the supervision of the Ministry of Finance over the leasing of endowment properties for the benefit of governmental institutions, and the removal of local council encroachments on endowment properties.

- The Ministry does not have a clear investment plan for managing endowment property funds so that it contributes to developing these funds and benefiting from their investment returns.

- The necessary supporting documents for agreements and lease contracts are incomplete, and directorates are weak in following up on expired contracts and agreements and taking appropriate measures against them, which leads to underutilization of these endowment properties and prevents them from achieving the public benefit for which they were endowed.

- There is no accurate inventory of all endowment properties in the Ministry; it was found that the endowment deeds are not available for some of them, which prove the ownership of the Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs over some endowment properties. The Ministry also did not conduct a comprehensive survey of all endowment lands and determine their area accurately, nor prepare detailed annual reports on endowment lands, and there is no accurate and comprehensive database of all endowment properties...

- There exists an unclosed advance that was transferred from the endowment properties revenue accounts to the Hajj season account in the amount of 800,000 dinars (eight hundred thousand dinars)... and it was not recorded as a receivable in the endowment properties accounts, which leads to inaccuracy in the financial data related to endowment properties.!!

- It was shown that 50% of the receivables recorded by the Ministry are registered against governmental institutions that exploit endowment properties (government schools), without lease contracts, and there are a number of expired lease contracts for endowment properties that government institutions continue to exploit without renewal, which resulted in loss of their rental value to the Ministry and a reduction in revenues from endowment properties.!!

- The Ministry of Finance did not comply with paying the receivables due to the Ministry of Awqaf related to Waqf Khasaki Sultan, in implementation of the Presidential decision issued on 4-4-2011, which stipulated exempting the tenants of Waqf Khasaki Sultan from paying their rents and transferring them to the Ministry of Finance..!

- There are large discrepancies in the receivables records for the years 2015-2017 through the lists received from the directorates, and they do not match the accounting software (Bisan) at the Ministry, and the opening balances of the receivables accounts recorded in the financial records are inaccurate.!

- The procedures that the Ministry undertakes to collect and record receivables due to it are insufficient, where their value reached 5,281,286 dinars as of 31-12-2017, and there were no apparent periodic follow-ups, notices, or warnings to the institutions to ensure payment of amounts due, and the Ministry did not record the receivables related to installments of key-money compensation in its ledgers and statements, which may lead to not collecting the full receivables due to the Ministry.!

- Checks for collection are not deposited in the bank promptly upon receipt from the tenants; they are kept inside an iron safe in the directorates until their due date, and there are returned checks present in a number of directorates that had not been collected as of 30-11-2018, amounting to 190,084 dinars, 11,194 dollars, and 45,710 shekels, which indicates weak follow-up and may lead to loss of the checks and their monetary value to the Ministry.!

- There is weak coordination with the competent departments in the Land Authority to extract new registration certificates and entries in order to update the data of lands owned by the endowment.

- There is no documentation and inventory of the encroachments on endowment properties, nor preparation of periodic reports on them, whether from the Israeli side, citizens, or official and non-governmental institutions.

- There is no clear methodology in the Ministry for pursuing those who default on paying amounts due to the Ministry, which leads to loss of recoverable revenues and may result in their complete loss.

· The Ministry's response to the Diwan report: "The response was positive, where the Ministry stated that it will take into account the recommendations contained in the report."..

· And I say here: it is difficult to inventory waqf properties due to poor administration and poor administrative and financial organization, as reflected in the Diwan report's observations... in addition to shortcomings in the real estate and land registration system in Palestine. The endowment properties were estimated at thousands of dunams, and in a 2002 study the real estate was estimated at not less than 152,919 dunams, including planted lands and the majority smooth land... in addition there are more than 1,892 representing properties, buildings and shops..!

- Endowment properties play cultural, social, and economic roles in Palestinian civil society, and this role must be expanded and developed; it is not limited to building places of worship and cemeteries, but the endowment property system has contributed to areas of Palestinian civil life by providing social, cultural and economic services to the Muslim community such as caring for the poor, widows, and the elderly, establishing schools, supplying the needy with food and clothing, and providing medicines for the sick.

- All the observations, violations and transgressions that appeared in the body of the Diwan report revealed the extent of the shortcomings of the Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs, its negligence, and the weakness of work organization in its administration of endowment properties. What is also worrying in the report is the clear existence of an unclosed advance (due to non-payment), where the amount of 800 thousand dinars was transferred from endowment properties revenues to the Hajj season of 2018 and was not shown or recorded as a receivable in the endowment properties account!! Bearing in mind that the Hajj season of 2018 was plagued by many violations, transgressions and lack of responsibility as well, where the value of advances in that season to pilgrims, unclosed for previous years, amounted to 25,464 Jordanian dinars, not to mention the Hajj season advance under discussion (2018) (in the amount of 800 thousand Jordanian dinars).., which was spent on purposes other than those for which endowment revenues should be spent. The General Administration is responsible for endowment property affairs in a manner that achieves the interests of the waqf and brings benefit to society, and for developing the yield of these properties. The Diwan report indicated that for the 2018 Hajj season accommodation was leased for delegations accompanying the pilgrims from guest delegations, official persons and the administrative and technical teams that accompanied the Palestinian pilgrims, and the Diwan report referred to transgressions in the 2018 Hajj season, stating that Palestinian pilgrims in 2018 were charged additional expenses because the Ministry accommodated members of the administrative missions, official persons, and delegations in hotels in Medina and Mecca (in other words, that the pilgrims bore the accommodation costs of the aforementioned official, administrative and technical delegations).... The report added that the 2018 Hajj season was also charged for expenses not related to the season!.. And the question is: where was the advance of 800 thousand Jordanian dinars spent in that Hajj season..?

- The debts of endowment properties (receivables) reached about 5,300,000 dinars according to the Diwan report, which clarified that the holders of these receivables belong to several official and public parties, mostly headed by the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs, and individuals and public and private institutions, and these receivables have not been paid nor are they being properly followed up, which highlights the Ministry's shortcomings, negligence and transgression, in addition to its lack of attention to Diwan reports. The Ministry's response regarding the Diwan report on the 2018 Hajj season was negative, consisting of an unconvincing set of justifications, in addition to the Ministry's failure to respond to many observations regarding the 2018 Hajj season...!

· The follow-up by the Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs to correct the violations related to endowment property funds, and to hold those involved in all these violations and transgressions and chapters of negligence in public work accountable, is necessary and must be acted upon immediately, to prioritize the public interest in managing endowment properties and to adhere to executing the responsibilities entrusted to them pursuant to law, regulations and the legislations governing their activities...!

- On 8-11-2020