All-out War Against Corruption

Israel mobilized for all-out war this week, not against a foreign foe but against the internal enemy of corruption said to be gnawing at the very vitals of the government and society. It will not be a pre-emptive strike but, according to the 1000-page annual report just issued by State Comptroller, Dr. Ernst Yitzhac Nebenzahl, a long overdue campaign to root out private greed, misconduct and mismanagement that allegedly flourishes in virtually every government ministry, branch and agency, not excluding the armed forces.

Nebenzahl, a man of impeccable integrity, great competence and apparently no political axes to grind, takes a dim view of the outcome. Unless drastic changes are made in the nation’s “financial system” which, his report claims, breeds and nourishes corruption, it “will damage the very existence of the State and might even destroy her and our existence as a society,” he said at a press conference in Jerusalem this week.

Premier Yitzhak Rabin announced a week ago that his government was taking the offensive against corruption in the civil service and would spare no one regardless of position. “Something is ‘lo beseder'” (out of order) the Premier said on a televised interview. He acknowledged that it was not a matter of just a few exceptional cases but a widespread and serious phenomenon. Rabin spoke out only a few days before the release of the Comptroller’s report and it appeared to some that he was trying to head off criticism of his government and lay the blame on the previous regime.

Even before Rabin’s remarks and the Nebenzahl report, Israelis were shocked to learn that at least eight senior Defense Ministry officials and two former high ranking Air Force officers had been either remanded in custody or were out on ball pending prosecution on charges of bribery, fraud and falsification. Their alleged offenses involved collusion with private manufacturers leading to wasteful or unneeded purchases for the armed forces at the expense of Israel’s heavily burdened taxpayers.

SPECIFICS CITED IN REPORT

The Comptroller’s report cited far more serious manifestations. It claimed that tens of millions of Pounds had been spent on fortifications on the Golan Heights prior to the disengagement agreement with Syria that did not conform to the army’s specifications. It found that the Defense Ministry overpaid local vehicle assembly firms millions of Pounds because of the faulty supervision of an IL 120 million contract. It found that military industries were paid to stockpile supplies as directed by the army; but when the Yom Kippur War broke out, the needed supplies were not available.

According to the report, dock workers at the port of Ashdod were paid unlimited overtime for unloading ammunition on the Sabbath. Workers netted as much as IL 3000 for eight hours of work which were counted as 300 hours.

The Housing Ministry does not know how many units it has built at any given time or whether its expenditures match the available budget, the Comptroller’s report charged. It said that after the Yom Kippur War, Treasury loans to universities were reduced by IL 15.8 million because of the country’s severe economic straits, but in actuality the universities received IL 26.2 million more than they were entitled to.

Nebenzahl called for the appointment of a “young, dynamic and politically and publicly supported minister” charged with the task of completely re-vamping public administration in the country. He pledged to keep plugging away at every case of corruption or mismanagement until the problems are solved.

Defense Minister Shimon Peres said that all the cases under investigation had been unearthed by his Ministry’s own internal control and supervisory bodies.

The Nebenzahl report, along with recently exposed instances of police brutality and incompetence; a series of scandals in the private business sector; the impending trial of Michael Tsur, former general manager of the Israel Corporation and chairman of the Zim Lines on charges of embezzlement and fraud, are all expected to produce lively debate in the Knesset which began its summer session this week.

But the avalanche of corruption reports has made many Israelis cynical. Doubts have been expressed that any major reforms or effective corrective measures will be taken once the smoke clears. Nebenzahl himself professed not to be surprised by his findings. He noted that those who were aware of similar goings-on in the past including the Netivei Neft oil scandal, “cannot be surprised today.”