The National Authority for Military Retirees in Palestine

The State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB), through the General Directorate for Governance Oversight (civil and security), which is responsible for oversight of the legislative, executive and judicial authorities, in addition to the state security agencies, conducted an audit of the operations of the National Authority for Military Retirees, and the following observations were recorded:

·      (Administrative Committee of the National Authority for Military Retirees)

-       The period and duration of work of this committee were not specified according to the presidential decision forming the Administrative Committee, which is composed of ten members, despite more than 10 years having passed since its formation up to the preparation of this report,

-       The statute (bylaws) of the National Authority for Military Retirees does not address the reformation and powers of the Administrative Committee, nor does it specify the duration and period of work of the Administrative Committee formed by presidential decision.

·       (General Conference):

-       The obligation to hold the Authority’s General Conference once every 3 years is not being observed, as the last General Conference was held on 12-5-2016

-       Programs and a plan for the National Authority for Military Retirees were not approved by the Conference at its meeting.

-       A statutory auditor was not appointed by the General Conference to audit the Authority’s accounts.

·       (General Council):

-       The Council does not hold regular meetings, and it does not exercise its full powers according to the statute of the National Authority for Military Retirees.

·       (Administrative Board):

-       The statutory term (3 years) of the Administrative Board ended on 12-5-2019, and no decision was taken to extend it for an additional year or to elect a new Administrative Board.

-       The Administrative Board did not prepare an annual plan in accordance with the statute of the National Authority for Military Retirees.

-       The Administrative Board does not prepare annual (administrative and financial) reports; rather it is satisfied with preparing a financial and administrative report every 3 years to present to the General Conference, whereby an administrative report was issued only for the specified period from 2012-2016 and presented to the third Conference in May 2016. Also, the financial officer, who is a member of the Administrative Board, did not submit any reports to the Administrative Board regarding annual inventory operations, as no periodic or annual inventory of the Authority’s assets is conducted by the financial officer.

-       Monthly meetings are not organized.

-       The Administrative Board does not supervise revenues, as the financial officer does not record them in the ledgers, follow them up, or present reports on their collection or disbursement..!!

·       (Public Audit Committee):

-       Although the Public Audit Committee exists, it does not perform its assigned oversight tasks and powers as mandated by the statute of the National Authority.

-       The committee does not hold regular meetings every 3 months; its last meeting was in 2017.

-       There are no minutes of the Public Audit Committee sessions or reports submitted to the General Council regarding its oversight work.

·      (Resources and Finance of the National Authority for Retirees)

-       A regulation to unify membership conditions and to specify affiliation fees and subscriptions for affiliates in all governorates, and to organize the collection of revenues, was not approved, as there is no legal reference for collecting fees.

-       The Authority did not establish any projects, activities, or events that generate revenues and returns for the Authority.

-       The Authority relies on its operating budget, which it obtains from the General Treasury to operate its main headquarters, and on affiliation fees collected in the governorates to operate its branches... which has led to shortcomings and an inability to cover most of its annual expenses and needs. By referring to revenues and expenditures, it appears that the amount of expenditures exceeds the amount of revenues in the majority of branches, resulting in a deficit in covering expenditures.!

-       Not retaining copies of all supporting documents for operational expenditure disbursements at the National Authority.!

-       A database of retired military personnel and affiliates is not available to follow up and communicate with them for affiliation and to determine the proportion of affiliates and non-affiliates.

·       (Public Procurement):

-       Violation of the Public Procurement Law with regard to organizing the register of supplies and fixed assets at the Authority, and supplies in the custody of employees were not registered as personal custodianship and fixed to their names. Purchases and supplies that were purchased and received under a handover report from the receiving committee were not recorded, nor are they entered and exited by entry and exit vouchers.

·       (Authority Headquarters):

-       There is no main headquarters for the Authority; rather, the apartment of the head of the Authority was used as a temporary headquarters after he moved to another residence, without organizing a lease agreement with the owner.

·      The Authority did not respond to the Bureau’s report .!

·       (And I say, as a commentator) Our respect for the Authority’s military affiliates is great, and I know many of them personally, which makes us suffer greatly when we see the National Authority for Military Retirees, with its administrative structure of committees, councils, conference and others, in such a stagnant state, as it appears that it does not perform its work and activities as required by laws and organizational regulations. This is the administrative side; as for the financial side, there is negligence and laxity in the use of public funds allocated and provided to it from the General Treasury of the State......in the proper manner..! It was noted that there are many violations and observations as stated in the Bureau’s report above, and to make matters worse, the Authority did not respond to the Bureau’s report at all....! Which is astonishing.!!...We call on the Authority to rectify the violations in accordance with the Bureau’s observations, to work on activating and energizing its work and undertaking projects whose returns will benefit the Authority and its affiliates, to increase its revenues and cover its expenditures without any financial deficits...!

·       26 -11-2020