When Exceptions Become the Rule

A reading of the State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB) report on the work of the General Authority for Crossings and Borders!

The State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB) report on the work of the General Authority for Crossings and Borders for 2024 is one of the most worrying among the Bureau’s annual reports for 2025, not only because of the number of violations, but because it reveals widespread institutional and structural imbalances affecting the systems of administration, governance, oversight and public finance management.

The most serious observation begins with what the report revealed about the effective disabling of the internal control unit, the body that is supposed to constitute the first line of defense to protect public funds and ensure compliance with laws and regulations. The absence of this unit from performing its role is not merely an administrative fault, but opens the door to the spread of violations without detection or timely remedy.

The report documented the absence of the legal and regulatory framework governing the Authority’s work, as it continued to carry out its activities without an executive regulation or an approved organizational structure or clear job descriptions or delineation of authorities, and the relationship with government and security bodies, which weakened accountability and made it difficult to determine responsibilities!.

On the financial side, the report revealed violations with a direct impact on public funds, represented by collecting vehicle overnight fees without legal basis, a weak electronic revenue system that allowed repeated registration of vehicles and failed to separate the invoice from the receipt, the absence of periodic bank reconciliations, in addition to the lack of a clear mechanism for calculating the Palestinian Treasury’s share of departure fees, and the depositing of clearing revenues into an Authority special account instead of the general budget!. The report also recorded the presence of counterfeit cash amounting to (6,750 shekels) inside the main cash box without an official seizure report or administrative investigation!.

As for project management, it represented the largest focus of violations. Audit results showed that most projects were implemented by direct contracting far from competition and public tenders, with execution limited to a small number of contractors repeatedly, absence of technical criteria for their selection, failure to form specialized committees, allocation of large financial provisions without clear bases, as well as absence of achievement reports and initial and final handover minutes, and the Bureau’s inability to verify the quantities and specifications actually executed!

The report also showed that projects implemented inside Jordan or Israel limited the Palestinian side’s role to paying costs without possessing sufficient information about implementation details or the actual cost, which weakens oversight of public spending and limits the ability to verify the soundness of implementation!

The report recorded clear overspending violations, including the payment of monthly bonuses to civilians and military personnel, without legal basis, and the payment of special expenses to the Director General of the Authority despite his receiving monthly allowances, in addition to granting spending exceptions to parties not legally authorized, contrary to financial discipline rules!

On the administrative and contractual side, it became apparent that there were no official operating agreements with transport companies, no legal lease contracts for the offices and facilities used, no verification of collection of rental and stall dues, no confirmation of some companies’ compliance with payment of income and value added taxes, as well as failure to transfer the rental file to the Land Authority in accordance with the provisions of the law!

The report also revealed a weakness in oversight of revenues and services, as large discrepancies appeared between the number of users of the (VIP) service and tickets sold, raising the possibility of loss of part of public revenues, due to data mismatches, and absence of joint verification mechanisms!

The observations extended to government vehicle management, where the Authority did not adhere to installing electronic tags to control fuel consumption, did not maintain regular movement logs for vehicles, and did not place identification plates on them, contrary to Cabinet instructions!

The report also recorded weakness in lost-and-found management, due to the absence of clear procedures, and lack of official minutes when receiving lost items from the Israeli side, and failure to announce them according to proper procedures, which weakens protection of rights and reduces the possibility of recovering them!

The significance of the report was not limited to documenting violations, but also emerged in the unprecedented nature of its recommendations, as the Bureau called for suspending payments to contractors until all projects are re-evaluated by an independent national committee that includes the Ministry of Public Works and Housing and the Ministry of Finance, the Engineers Syndicate, and the General Union of Contractors, to verify project execution and review their costs!

It also recommended concentrating future project execution in the Ministry of Public Works in accordance with the Public Procurement Law and central tenders, suspending all financial exceptions, preparing achievement reports and proper handover minutes for each project, and reviewing financial appropriations and the mechanisms for recording them in the general budget!

The recommendations also included regulating the relationship with transport companies through formal contracts, transferring the rental file to the Land Authority, reviewing licenses of some companies, collecting due taxes and fees, and addressing discrepancies in revenues of (VIP), preparing a transparent mechanism for calculating departure fees, opening an investigation into the counterfeit cash incident, establishing clear procedures for managing lost items, full adherence to legal spending rules and government vehicle management.

A comprehensive reading of this report leads to a fundamental conclusion, namely that the problem at the General Authority for Crossings and Borders is no longer merely scattered administrative errors, but rather reflects weakness in the governance, oversight and compliance system, and an expansion of exceptions at the expense of the rule of law!

Implementing the State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB) recommendations remains the real test of the seriousness of state institutions in protecting public funds, enhancing integrity and transparency, and cementing the principle that management of public resources must be subject to law and accountability, and that exceptions must remain limited cases permitted by law, not become the rule that governs public work!... Despite the fact that the General Authority for Crossings and Borders did not respond to the Bureau’s report at all as proper procedure requires.!!