Vehicle Imports and Car Dealerships in Palestine

-        Violations in the infrastructure sector in Palestine (Ministry of Transport and Communications) In Palestine-

·       The SAACB stated in its report on the role of the Ministry of Transport and Communications with regard to controlling and supervising the importation of vehicles and oversight of car dealerships... Violations which we list below:

-        Licensing some vehicles without completing their customs clearance, where it was found that there are no records for these vehicles in the customs system used by the Ministry of Finance.!

-        The Ministry of Transport and Communications licensed some vehicles in 2018, and customs-cleared them in 2019.!

-        There is a discrepancy between customs listings issued from the customs system used by the Ministry of Finance and the paper transactions!

-        There is no payment receipt date for some vehicles in the customs system adopted by the Ministry of Finance.!

-        Similarity in the data appearing in the customs tables (those that have been cleared by a customs broker and those that have not) leads to reports that diverge from actual reality.

-        There is no bank deposit slip proving customs payment for some vehicles..!

-        There is no exhibition license application in the files of some dealerships

-        There is no income tax registration certificate for some dealerships.

-        There is no copy of the tax invoice for some dealerships, which may lead to financial transactions not being subjected to tax..!

-        Weaknesses in internal control procedures in the management of car dealership files at the traffic directorates, manifested as follows:

-        Compliance with the number of drivers was not enforced, and there is no copy of the dealership license in some dealership files. Also, there is no copy of the standard signboard for some dealerships, contrary to the adopted procedural manuals!. In addition, there is no application for obtaining a test-plate license in some dealership files; regarding the educational qualification of the administrative manager of the dealership, it does not meet the conditions for an administrative manager's license. Likewise, there is no professional experience in the trade for the administrative manager, according to the procedural manuals adopted by the Ministry of Transport and Communications.! In addition, there is no copy of the administrative manager’s license in the dealership file, according to the adopted procedural manuals.

·       It is noted that there are significant violations and indicators that raise concern about the laxity of some officials in the Ministry and some subordinate directorates in safeguarding public funds properly, where it was found that there are licensed vehicles that are not customs-cleared, and there are indications of tax evasion by some dealerships, in addition to some dealerships not retaining tax invoices for their displays to use in sales transactions!, in addition to numerous violations by dealerships regarding the adopted procedural manuals...(according to what was stated in the report of the State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB), the highest auditing authority in Palestine)! ...and we do not know what corrective actions this ministry has taken regarding these violations.. nor whether any possibility of seriously and strictly holding the offending officials accountable was pursued.. so that they may serve as a lesson to anyone who might be tempted to undermine the citizen’s trust in the public service.!..and to stop indifference in preserving public funds, and favoritism in public work !

·       On 15-11-2020