Excerpt:

"Palestinian Authority Corruption Perceptions Index 2003 score: 3.0 (78th out of 133 countries) Bribe Payers Index 2002 score: not surveyed Legal and institutional changes • A new electoral law aimed at regulating funding from public sources and introducing disclosure requirements went to a general reading in January 2003. Under the law, the Central Elections Committee (CEC) would regulate the criteria for allocating public funds to parties and monitor private donations. In October 2002, the CEC was recognised as an independent body. Although the head and members of the CEC were directly appointed by President Yasser Arafat, the committee later approached the legislative council for its approval. • Legislation for a new administrative and financial monitoring office was proposed in March 2003. The office would replace the general monitoring authority established in 1996. The president, his aides and advisers, as well as police and security officials, would come under the new office’s scrutiny. The president would no longer have the authority to appoint and depose the chairman of the monitoring office and the office would have a special budget allocated from within the general budget. • In March 2003 amendments were made to the Basic Law, which came into effect in 2002 and provides the legal foundation for the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the transitional period. One amendment introduced the post of prime minister, with responsibility for forming and modifying the council of ministers and overseeing government institutions. The president was given authority to refer the prime minister for investigation – and the prime minister the right to refer ministers to investigation – when accused of crimes. The amended law also allows 10 members of the 88-member legislative council to submit a request to hold a special session to withdraw confidence from the government, or from any of its ministers, after investigation. • The amendments also introduced the PA’s first disclosure requirements. All ministers, including the prime minister, must now submit a financial report on themselves, their spouses and dependant minors detailing the ownership of assets. Conflicts of interest are prohibited. • Under discussion is a law dealing with infractions of public employment duties (its first reading was in April 2003). It would establish penalties of up to 10 years’ imprisonment for embezzlement of public funds, up to 15 years for bribery and life imprisonment for destroying evidence to facilitate, or cover up, embezzlement. Funds would be recovered and fines imposed equal to the amount of embezzled funds or damages incurred. 228 Global, regional and country reports TI 04 chap08 6/1/04 16:14 Page 228 Country reports PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY 229 The 100-day plan and implications for corruption Israel’s reoccupation of the West Bank in the spring and summer of 2002 led to increased Palestinian popular demands for reform after the PA institutions proved incapable of organising adequate civil or military defence or meeting the needs of people under occupation. Amongst the demands were calls for the government to clean up its institutions, as corruption was seen as one of the reasons for their failings. In an opinion poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in April 2003,1 for instance, 57 per cent of respondents said they thought corruption affected their personal and family life very significantly and 68 per cent said they thought corruption affected political life very significantly. But demands for reform were not only domestic. Progress in the implementation of the Road Map to Peace, a performancerelated agreement signed in April 2003 that seeks a final and comprehensive settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by 2005, was made conditional on the adoption of certain reform elements. Also, the release of tax revenues collected by the Israeli government was made contingent upon the Palestinian finance minister’s ability to unify revenues under a single treasury account in order to facilitate oversight of the budget by the legislative council. The blueprint for reform was largely the work of a ministerial reform committee established after the new government was created in June 2002. The committee drafted what is known as the ‘100-day plan’. Meetings between the committee and the ‘Quartet plus Four’2 led to the creation of task forces on economic policy-making, civil service reform, strengthening local governments and private sector development. A steering committee was set up to provide support for presidential, legislative and municipal elections and reform of the security system was to be pursued on a bilateral basis. Several anti-corruption control elements were included in the plan in line with the recommendations of the 1999 US Council on Foreign Relations report, known as the ‘Rocard Report on Strengthening the Palestinian Public Institutions’. They included the establishment of comprehensive registers of public sector job titles and personnel, bringing governmental and public institutions under the jurisdiction of ministries, developing internal and external auditing processes, and establishing egovernment systems. The plan calls for a greater separation of government powers and for the decentralisation of power from the executive so that the legislative council and the judiciary can play their full role. It also calls for elections to be prepared at municipal, legislative and presidential level as well as within unions and civil society organisations. While it is too early to evaluate the progress of democratic reforms, it is clear that the ongoing occupation poses serious limitations; it impeded the general and legislative elections, scheduled for early 2003. Nevertheless, the legislative council members, particularly the Fatah party members, have taken steps to exert their influence on government decisions. They questioned the composition of the cabinet proposed by President Arafat in March 2003, threatening to bring a motion of no confidence against the proposed cabinet. Although they did not achieve substantial changes to the cabinet’s composition, they did secure the president’s approval for the creation of the post of prime minister, which marks an important step in the direction of decentralisation of power, as does the fact that the prime minister and other ministers can be dismissed after a vote of no confidence. There have been setbacks subsequently. In September 2003, Mahmoud Abbas, the first appointed prime minister, resigned after four months. Fewer reform targets have been met in the judicial domain."