Report on WZO Shows Some Improvement but Sharply Critical of Many Areas

–The report by Meir Ben-Zion Meiri, Comptroller of the World Zionist Organization, to be submitted to the 29th World Zionist Congress when it convenes here Feb. 20, found that the administration of the WZO “has improved somewhat.

But the report is sharply critical of many areas of activity, particularly the selection and supervision of schlichim (emissaries) sent abroad and the implementation of budgetary economies. It also leveled charges of maladministration against the Jewish National Fund which were promptly challenged by the land reclamation agency.

The WZO Executive decided to release the report now– although they have always been kept secret in the past–because of leaks to the press and in order to set up a follow-through body to ensure that recommended improvements are made. The report covers the fiscal year that ended in March, 1976 when the WZO budget amounted to $40 million.

The report said that “considerations of savings and technique did not always guide” the WZO staff. Its strongest criticism was reserved for the network of 396 schlichim abroad. The Comptroller found that “a considerable proportion” of the emissaries operated without efficient supervision by their departments.

He praised the immigration and absorption departments for recently instituting public tenders for emissaries but recommended that the selection process be completely revised with more departmental control over those sent abroad.

The report charged the JNF with overpayment and keeping poor records of land purchases. The JNF employs 1,070 persons and has an annual budget of IL 374.5. The JNF responded that the Comptroller had erroneously attributed to it poor records kept by the Israel Lands Administration, a government agency that assumed control of certain lands formerly held by the JNF. “The Comptroller failed to understand this,” a JNF spokesman said.