monitoring report on finance, yemen
TRANSCRIPT
Financial Committee, Public Shadow Authority Revolution Salvation Front
1
Revolution Salvation Front
Monitoring & Evaluative Report on
Performance of Ministry of Finance & its Affiliates
Issued by
Financial Committee,
Public Shadow Authority
Revolution Salvation Front (RSF)
Financial Committee, Public Shadow Authority Revolution Salvation Front
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Spotlight:
Financial Committee is one of the shadow specialized committees established under the Public
Shadow Authority of the Salvation Front of Peaceful Revolution (RSF). It works on monitoring
corruption in the ministry of Finance MF its affiliated authorities and presenting a vision on
challenges and solutions pertaining to finance sectors. It uses legal and judicial mechanisms,
media and advocacy campaigns through benefitting from other shadow specialized committees
of RSF. The FC objectives include working on activate people's monitoring on the various
governmental institutions and sectors involved in financial administration, disclose any
violations and bad exercises, contribute to studying problems and challenges, provide solutions.
The Public Shadow Authority (PSA) is an anti-corruption commission works on monitoring
and evaluating the government performance. It was established in January 2013 by the
Revolution Salvation Front (RSF), a civil non-governmental pro-change movement
established in 2011 to struggle for social change, good governance and national participation
towards a modern democratic state . Monitoring and lobbying government, PSA activities focus
on the civic engagement of public, activists and professional specialists in the public sectors,
and in partnership with the governmental entities. It aims to combating corruption in all
government agencies and promoting standards of transparency and integrity.
Established under Public Shadow Authority are 7 effective committees tasked with monitoring
and observing activities, lobbying and raising awareness of public opinion. These 8 are the
committees on finance, justice, the legal affairs, the education, the media, the oil and minerals,
the committee on vocational education and on the rights and freedom. They have issued 8
reports since start of NC till 2011 up till now. The other two under est. committees to be
declared soon are the committee on public health and the committee on power and energy.
Each of the Shadow Committees is concerned with a government sector, analysis of
performance and provide solutions and national strategies, through legal and media advocacy
and civil resistance.
The legal committee receives complaints and wrongdoings on corruption, and human and civil
rights violations, especially defending public opinion issues before court. The number of issues
that have been filed by the committee are up to 47, most importantly is the question of peaceful
Revolution wounded people.
Challenge:
Corruption in Yemen threatens the stat's legitimacy especially in terms of increasing the civil
strife and violence. It hugely affects growth, wastes resources and small business, weakens
attempted institutional reforms, undermines the roles and function of the integrity system, aborts
the activation of the laws relating to accountability and helps corrupt officials impunity. It is
institutionalized and systematic; the political corruption is the most serious type.
Vision for Solution:
while the root causes includes the lack of real political will to fight corruption, ignorance and
poverty, unavailability of inclusive national strategy to address corruption, socio-political
instability and weakness of the government and its tools, It can be addressed by an integrated
package of reforms including establish strategic development, enhance institutional capacity
building, strengthen regulatory independent powers and rule of law and promote public
awareness and civil society of anti-corruption—that cannot be initiated, according to RSF,
without entrusting the country's helm to a new government of technocrats, the urgent priority at
the present time more than ever during the transitional period since late of 2011.
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The Ministry of Finance:
The MF is considered as a major administrative body on which states and governments can
depend to execute their economic, monetary and financial policies and ensure achievement of a
number of objectives that are stipulated in article (2) of the MF bylaws, as " the ministry aims at
regulate and secure the state's monetary and financial affairs, monitoring revenues and
expenditure, suggesting both of pertaining financial policies and general and detailed annual
budgets along with getting them implemented within the state's overall policies. It also mainly
intends to effectively contribute to prepare an economic, social and monetary policy
development plan, working to fulfill following detailed tasks:
1- Develop finance, taxing and customs systems, and suggest procedures and legislatures
guaranteeing general resources development in line with the state's social, economic and finance
policies.
2- Steer the state's overall expenditure to ensure achieving its developmental social and
economic objectives and establish mechanisms suitable for monitoring public money, to
preclude being spent in violation to identified purposes.
3- Supervise the state's financial institutions as per valid regulations.
4- Supervise on external loans and donations - whether be monetary or material - together with
their collections and distribution on specific aspects, and on keeping records and externally-
financed projects.
5- Prepare financial, accounting and tender-related rules & regulations on scientific bases,
verifying they are duly applied by all institutions of the central government, along with the
provinces administrative units, the economic sector units and the budget-specific entities.
6- Inspecting and supervising all administrative apparatus and economic sector units, in addition
to those with independent and attached budgets, special funds on financial matters, taking
authorities of the central apparatus for accountability and monitoring CAAM into account.
7- Identify, administer and maintain the state's properties, and specify legal methods for their
exploitation.
8- Supervise the spending body and guide foreign monetary so as to be used within the state's
finance policy and the central bank law, besides the minister's duty of supervising the finance
sector.
The article No (3) of the MF's bylaws also stipulates that "the minister shall undertake the
following tasks:
1- Supervise and manage the ministry along with its departments and offices in other
governorates, and implement the state's overall policy as per valid rules and regulations.
2- Being the top head, he shall Lead the ministry in all fields and manage it in compliance with
principles of joint consultation on basic issues and individual full responsibility before the
cabinet.
3- Superintend his employees, asking for reports and is entitled to make orders to heads of the
departments they belong to , and to amend or even annul their decisions if be illegal.
4- Supervise prepare the ministry's plan among the cabinet plan and follow-up its execution, in
addition to submit reports on extent of the cabinet resolutions' putting into effectiveness.
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5- Report to the prime minister or the cabinet on big violations inside the state regime and
policies as per the law.
6- Network with the ministers concerned when the matter be of relevance to other ministries.
7- Network with provinces mayors regarding the cabinet's and the local authorities resolutions
related to the ministry, ensuring relations with the mayors, especially in terms of prepare social
and economic development plan.
The Report's Goal:
Disclosing and briefing public opinion on the Yemen's finance and how it is managed to
enhance fighting corruption.
The Report:
The Financial Committee FC of RSF's Public Shadow Authority has presented this
report on Ministry of Finance MF performance throughout period of the consensus
government CG in a press conference held in Sana'a. The third-chapter report
addressed violations and corruption inside MF along with its belonging institutions.
The first chapter presented a comparative evaluation to the national consensus
government program with respect to MF, the second monitoring on the ministry
performance, then the challenges within Tax and Customs Authorities were covered in
the third.
Introduction:
As the MF is supposed to play a significant national role of impartially monitoring all state
institutions and without any affiliations that can harm its functioning, and despite the 2011
revolution demanding for reformed state, the ministry is found to be sinking in a deep ocean of
corruption that left no hopes for surviving. The MF, under consensus government, has proved to
be swerved its patriotic-based duty and legal parameters and is overwhelmed by a partisan
behavior and loyalty and personal interests, working on discarding principles of competency,
specialization and priority regarding public post filling as provided by the civil service law No
43 for 2005.
Several administrative and financial resolutions were made in an open violation to the law and
constitution, and many corruption cases have swept remaining basics of professionalism, and in
an unprecedented manner got rid of financial and accountancy norms towards dead failure that
can cause a potential disaster.
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Chapter I
MF non-abiding by Agenda and Good Governance
The consensus government has confirmed in its program an intention to apply
good governance principles and make it among top priorities towards achieving
people aspirations for a new Yemen based on principles of rule of law, improve
competency, inquiry and transparency in public sector, besides fight corruption
and establishing equity, justice and human rights to ensure economic and
political stability as a starting point for a civil state.
The RSF's finance committee FC, however, found the policies and practices by
the ministry of finance MF violating CG's program and principles of good
governance. Several key aspects can be briefed as follows:
A- Public Financial Reforms
1- The CG's program has included that it would strengthen and monitor the
state procurement, bids and out-bids, as per law No (23) for 2007 with its
bylaws, amendments, and per relevant resolutions by the cabinet.
in this context, the RSF's finance committee has observed that the finance
minister; Sakher Alwjeh, passed several corrupt bargains without abiding by
rules and regulations or even minimum legal requirements stipulated by law of
bids and out-bids. It further noticed illegally signed power purchase contracts
and neglecting the role of monitoring bodies that sign contracts and assignments
and offer them to contractors, while the relevant law oblige the ministry to
entrust committees to pay field visits to review execution documents.
A report by the parliament showed that the tender sector was a major source of
corruption in Yemen, especially as the government contracting are not subjected
to equality-based legal contests.
2- While the CG promised in its program it will continue correcting the
general budget through improving economic and financial prospects along with
mechanisms of preparing economic frame and average expenses, the RSF's FC
found that these two budgets received no reforms, rather the situation can be
described as follows:
1- The annual deficit involved the state's general budget continues.
2- The government expenditure on investing decreased though spending
expanded.
3- The internal general debt increases.
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4- Inability to receive external donations and loans
5- There are funds beyond the budget.
6- The non-oil public resources decrease, and they heavily depend on oil
revenues.
The government pledged to make reforms in the public finance, though only in
late June 19, 2013 that it signed a loan with $5 million from WB in this respect,
to support Public Finance updating project to enhance finance sector. Such a
loan evokes several doubts, as the MF did not identify areas for spending
(whether the wrong is technical or professional). The MF is supposed to put a
schedule for such reforms and show aspects of shortcomings, and the CAAM
did not play its role, as it accepts spending from any item before checking, in
addition to the fact that it prepares no studies on reforms in question.
The RSF's FC further noted that the government does not cover external loans,
as it is clear from the following table:
The table shows that Yemen did not benefit from allocated amounts, while the
actual draw is a small percent despite the bad public services at all sectors, if
any.
3- Though the CG report includes an intention to improve and facilitate level
of finance and taxation services, there is no worth mention improvement, rather
more and more complications, as the FC found.
4- Though the CG promised to address facets of shortcomings in the
financial department pertaining to follow-up, collect the state revenues, there
remains a lot of obscurity, the collected amounts disappeared and no one knows
where they are spent. An official report said that the minister of finance had
negatively intervened in the budgets of sectors, leading them to being hindered,
and 600 million YR was adopted in the cabinet's presidency budget though was
not provided to the employees.
Sector Allocated
amount
Actual Withdraw
in 2012
Withdraw
Percent
Fish Wealth &
Agriculture $253.18 $19.92 7.9%
Public Health $ 250.25 $15,70 6%
Water & Electricity
Sector $1.o99.03 $50,05 4,5%
Education Sector $268,5 $ 28,21 10%
Transport $274,57 $21,45 7,8%
Public Work Sector $742,36 $31,08 4%
Total $2887,44 $166,41 $5,8
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5- The CG pledged to combat revenues -separating with special accounts and
to bring them to the public treasury, yet the MF violated the item No (51) of the
fiscal law no 8 for 1990 and continued adding revenues to special accounts, as
an official report said about adding fees of the oil pipeline use to private
account in the central bank and the MF moved the revenues of such account
from Ministry of Oil to a MF private account . 30 billion YR was separated
under item of emergency, 37 billion under item of obligations, 2 billion 248
million for Wafa Foundation from the budget of 2012 to be allocated for
treatment of the revolution wounded.
The FC would like to make the following notes:
1- The inter-items moving should be preceded by a suggestion by a formed
committee, followed by agreement of concerned bodies, as the MF is only an
implementing body .
2- The MF usurped authority of Ministry of Health and the ministerial
committee and hindered their assigned work.
3- MF's spending of the people revolution martyrs' allocations is
illegitimate, hence doubted.
B- Revenues:
The CG pledged to improve and contribute to non-oil revenues within the total
public revenues, especially of tax and customs and develop their legislatures in
light with new local and external updates, though it failed to develop non-oil
revenues (tax, customs and Zakat) and the increase attained in 2012 compared
with past years was not a result of government efforts, rather due to increasing
income taxes and wage expenditure as well as amending customs tariff.
1- Though the CG program includes work on applying the sales taxes law no
(19) for 2001 with amendments and mechanisms, and on prepare for implement
new income tax law No (17) for 2010, former income law no (31) was annulled.
A new law, thought to be much more reliable in correcting financial matters
adopted, has not been put fully into effect, as its content was taken from laws
belong to foreign countries with no consideration to specialty of Yemen (
political, social and cultural milieu)
2- The program further promised to improve late tax resources, solve
problems of accumulative taxes, yet the FC notices low collection of tax due to
MF inability to duly apply the sales tax law, and to discard adopting policies
limiting phenomenon of taxing evasion. It also noticed that such failure is due to
the CG's inactivation of the higher senior board administration and its ill-
developed performance, due to some reasons:
A. Absence of a highly qualified staff for correctly processing of the State-due tax
amounts, which must be done via reviewing quantity of produced goods.
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B. Lack of improving level of performance of collecting department, and of
updating its mechanisms. C. Lack of monitoring board that is intended to follow-up collections and find
regulations and principles for them, via principle of reward-and-punish. D. Randomness in tax assessments by tax admins. in districts without any reliable
principles. E. Lack of flexible staffers authorized with tax assessments, which eventually
leads to tax-entrusted peoples' shunning disclosing reality of due tax. F. The tax offices toleration through non follow-up of due tax on homes and
stores (property tax) G. Mood-driven action and favoritism in selecting Qat-tax collecting bodies and
subject it to personal interests without considering public ones. Some of Qat-tax
collectors are not employed by the state's administrative apparatus. H. The CG program further spoke about auditing and monitoring mechanisms
accounting preparations necessary for applying terms of petroleum derivatives
purchase in Gas and Oil Companies, while a tangible imbalance really exists,
and obscurity dominates the relations among MF, and the oil companies which
impose prejudiced terms caused heavy losses to the public treasury, due to lack
of clear-cut mechanisms for financial admins.
C- Public Expenditure:
1- The CG promised to apply austerity measures on existing expenditure,
and to increase expense on human development, though violations are noted to
be committed, as the 2012 expenses are 16% increase compared with 2011, 7%.
As per results of actual execution for the budget from Jan to April
2013, the existing expenditure reached 674,2 billion YR with 97% of total
spending which exceed the estimated 8%. The FC also noted retreat of investing
expenditure with 50% in 2011, 58% in 2012 compared with expenditure in
2010, which caused development expenses to decrease. It also found that
investment still paralyzed as well as dozens of projects that are neglected by the
CG plans.
2- The CG promised to study damage that inflicted buildings and
infrastructure of all institutions, due to existing crisis, and to estimate relevant
costs, however, a double-standard policy is observed regarding war
compensations, as they were granted to influential figures, and other much more
poorer, some have judicial decrees, were prevented.
Though it promised to diminish expenditure on oil and lubricants, procurement,
transport vehicles, and other operation expenses, the FC observed non-
fulfillment in such regard, and the expansion is made through central allocations
devoted to emergency cases to cover external travel allowance, the CAAM
reports do not include several violations, however.
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3- The CG pledged to abide by austerity measures on public potential through
review expenditure on petroleum derivatives and prepare a mechanism to guide
them, yet the FC noticed the GC decided, in an unstudied manner, to raise price
of diesel without taking consult of the parliament. Such a price hike must be
made gradually and based on scientific studies that identify needs and tackle
subsequent economic, developmental and social effects, as the decision can
negatively affect agriculture production and family income as a result of high
price and inflation.
Chapter II
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Monitoring Corruption
Having monitored the ministry of finance MF since late of 2011, key failure
manifested in the weak management system and capacity governing inputs and
outputs, inefficient and non-specialized key-leadership, for front the minister
himself, causing mismanagement, non-compliance with rules and regulations
governing financial and administrative activity despite the incompetence, lack
of actual control, and rampant political favoritism and bribery in employment of
financial and human resources, especially in revenues and transactions.
The big corruption cases investigated by FC includes but not limited to:
- supply of funds to exceptional bank accounts non-classified under budget to
meet special requirements in violation of the financial law and its regulations,
- adoption of large sums of money in the 2012-budget under the third item:
"expenses on subsidies, scholarships and social advantages", which are
incompatible with the objectives of the budget.
- non-compliance with laws and standards regulating appointments, promotion
and recruitment.
- customs duty illegal concessions for the sake of influence groups and
individuals, imposition supply of illegal tariffs on vehicles entering Yemen
under the temporary admission system (Alterpetk) in violation of the customs
Law.
- tax evasion, random and bureaucracy in tax collection.
- Illegally pay large sums of money approved for the treatment of wounded
people for partisan associations as caretaker despite the existence of a
ministerial committee dealing with issue of wounded protesters in 2011-
uprising.
Budget Expenses on Subsidies, Scholarships and Social Advantages
The items and allocations adopted by the minister during budgeting imply an
enhanced corruption under various (fake) names, for wasting people's potential.
The FC has observed organized corrupted public budget for 2012, as the one
approved by the minister has allocated items and expenses titled as social
advantages and scholarships and added to all state sectors and ministries what
was applicable in the former regime, which was devoted to corruption and the
public potential available for wasters.
The MF was quick to doubling budget expenditure on corruption and to waste
potential, in the central MF's approving with an increase of more than 102
million YR compared with 2011, not to mention the total gross for other
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ministries, as 572 billion 480 million YR was allocated to social interests,
equaling 20% of the 2012 public budget expenses distributed among
governmental public sectors the lion's share of which went to the MF. 184
billion 114 million YR ( the ministries accounts) allocated as social advantages
and scholarships, spent only by ministers' and people with fringe benefits'
orders.
Following is a table shows the amounts approved in 2012 budget of several
ministries, compared with 2011's (in Yemeni Ryials)
Reports show that most corruption cases of relevance are as follows:
1- The higher authority actual approval of non-itemized allocations without any
legally accredited regulations.
2- Allocating unquestionable great amounts for the security and military
institutions, as well as so-called additional allocations to control over a percent
of tax income and oil prices differential amounts, not to mention that some
public revenues are not included in public budgets.
3- The MF's monopoly of the lion's share of the state's public allocations. The
share includes portions of the central and the ministry's allocations.
4- The MF was not only keen to double budgeting of the tribal affairs authority
and the amounts provided to Sheikhs, but also to double financial amounts
specified for scholarships and advantages, with an increase of an estimated 38
million YR compared with 2011, which threatens the national economy and
may cause potential severe paralysis in case the country's economic and State
budget continue adopting such failed economic policies considered to be key
reasons of spread of poverty, crimes, law violation, hegemony of influential
people, and damage of infrastructure and public interests, in favor of
beneficiaries and influential people.
Political partisan-based recruitment, appointments and promotions
Ministry 2011 2012 Increase
1 Local
Administration 15,385,314,000.00 17,987,000,000.00 2,601,686,000.00
2 Ministry of
Information 4,553,563,000.00 13,237,000,000.00 8,683,437,000.00
3
Ministry of
Agriculture &
Irrigation
2,189,319,000.00 2,632,000,000.00 442,681,000.00
4 Ministry of
Electricity 508,165,000.00 639,000,000.00 130,835,000.00
5 Ministry of Health 12,868,309,000.00 16,765,000,000.00 3,896,691,0000.00
6 Tribal Affairs
Authority 2,305,764,000.00 2,344,000,000.00 38,236,000.00
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The partisan-based appointments, especially for senior positions, are dominant
along with fanaticism, arbitrariness, confiscating rights of corruption opponents
and lack of transparency and equal opportunities. Worse than it is a serious
threat cancelling the state, dividing it into parties and filling it with chaos.
Topped by illegal appointments in the ministry and affiliating offices, as the
finance committee FC stood on many violating decisions under umbrella of
large-scaled corruption.
The MF representatives and affiliating senior officials were observed to be
appointed on basis of mere partisan dividing. The (belonging) institutions and
departments' authorities are controlled by the minister himself, while some
employees who spoke about corruption were punished and moved to remote
areas to work there. Financial rights of individuals and entities are processed by
double-standard and state of mood instead of equity and professionalism in
addition to several negative exercises reflecting lack of intention to establish
good governance.
For instance, number of MF appointing decisions reached 83, including three
presidential decisions taken on June 22 2013 that appointed 7 representatives
and 6 assistants, the customs authority's agent, and the financial institute's dean
and vice-dean. 9 persons of the appointed are affiliates to Islah Party, 5 to the
general people's congress GPC and 2 are affiliates to the president Abdurabo.
On basis of the data gathered by the FC, there are 80 decisions issued by
Minister Sakher Alwagih, which appointed 443 employees in the ministry with
affiliating departments and customs authority. The last number includes 101 as
director generals, 54 as deputy director generals, 179 as department managers,
10 were appointed as accounting managers' deputies, 11 as procurement
managers, 41 as financial managers, 4 as store keepers, 2 as treasurers , 8 as
financial consultants whose job station is in the country's overseas embassies, 8
as heads of departments, an accounting unit manager based in the ministry, an
assistant executive manager for developing Ministry project, a customs
authority chairman's counselor, a deputy for the ministry's updating project, an
executive unit manager for financial documents project, a senior specialist in the
ministry's headquarter as well as an abroad study case.
There are several ministerial decisions by MF including public directors of
financial affairs, MF offices' accounting managers, and appointments of director
generals in the MF who do not meet public post requirements, in terms of
competency, priority, qualifications, and principle of equal opportunity among
the MF employees. The minister rather work based on partisan and
discriminating considerations. Some employees are offered between 4 and 5
new annual appointments while newly incumbents do no find job opportunities
and receive only 50% of the public directors' counterparts i.e. they are doubly
punished in the same time; first is job elimination, the other is 25 thousand YR
as wage discount on a monthly basis, which is deemed as humiliation to the MF
cadre and fighting their standards of living even pertaining to daily life
demands.
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Evaluating these decisions on appointments taken throughout care-taker
government, the FC observed that most of them attack criteria of competency
and priority and are dominated by political and regional hegemony along with
dividing among the GPC and Islah party who had lion's share of these
unprofessional appointments which violate valid regulations on filling the
positions refer to by Civil Service law no 19/ 1991 and by ministerial law no 76
for 2007, which identify recruitments for the following positions:
a- To fill ministry under-secretary positions, minimum 19 years' experience
in relevant field after holding university degree is a must, and the job must be
included in the ministry's organizing structure OR.
b- Post-graduation relevant experience of not less than 16 years in addition to
considering previous provisions No (a) when filling assistant under-secretary
general.
c- Post-graduation relevant experience of not less than 13 years to fill general
department managing position is a must, along with article no (a) provisions.
d- Post-graduation relevant experience of not less than 10 years to fill
department managing position is a must, along with article no (a) provisions.
Though upon reviewing the minister's and the State president's decisions in
question, it becomes clear that they are mostly contradict the law requirements
as well as those of principles of good governance the government always
popping off.
Some of appointment violations made include, but not limited to, the
following:
Employee
Name Position Notes
1 Yahya Saleh
Alansi
External Public
Relation
secretary general
Not included among the MF
cadre, committed big financial
violations, and is a counselor for
Hamid Alahmr.
2 Abdu Ali
Saleh Alqwas
Admni. &
financial affairs'
secretary general
His degree (bachelor in Islamic
studies) not relevant, besides
pending corruption cases before
public potential court, such as
illegal transfer of more than 2
million YR. to Wafa Foundation
3
Jamal
Mohammed
Almaliqi
The state's
accounts sector
representative
He has unsettled accumulative
material pledges during serving
as finance attaché in Egypt
4 Ahmed Qaid
Ashibani
Assistant
secretary of
public relations
sect.
Not included in the MF cadre,
recruited based on being an
Islah affiliate.
5 Mohammed Assistant under- Bachelor in 2011, violate job
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Mohammed
Alhadma
secretary experience terms as being
appointed as deputy project
manager in Feb 2013 and
(illegally) promoted to
assistant secretary general in
June of the same year.
6
Ghailan
Mohamed
Ashaif
Public Finance
Project executive
manager
Appointed as director general
while being unemployed in the
state's admin. body, besides lack
of competition advertisement as
stated in the contract signed
with the WB.
7 Hussein
Alwusabi
Coordination
director general
Holder of primary education
degree, however, law stipulates
university degree and 13 years'
experience in such position, as
well as the position title is not
included in the MF structure.
8 Fuad Abdulla
Sharhan
Accounting
manager in
Ministry of
Interior
Secondary school certificate
SSC in 1992 and received
university degree in 2012 after
being appointed, while law
stipulates 13 years' experience
10 Ottoman
Assufiani
Public Finance
project deputy
director
Holder of SSC, brought in 2010
from Central Security Apparatus
and was appointed in June 2013
as deputy director general, in
contrary to all valid regulations
and to contracts signed with the
WB.
11 Mohamed Ali
Attweel
Deputy manager
of Human
Resources
Development
Holder of SSC while law
stipulates university degree and
minimum 10 years' experience,
his position is not included in
the MF organizing structure OR,
Islah affiliate
12 Ali Awad
Hassan
Deputy General
director for
Minister's Office
Holder of Islamic studies cert.
appointed in June 2012. Though
law stipulates university degree
and 10 years' experience in
admin. management though his
position title is not included in
the OS.
13
Ismail Yahya
Mohamed
Aradi
Hajja Finance
Office director
Holder of bachelor in Islamic
law, violating principle of
specialization stated in article
no 9 of Employment Law
14 Ahmed Ali
Ali Alma'ari
Director of
Auditing &
Digital Archives
Appointed in Oct 16, 2012
though law stipulates university
degree and 10 years' experience
in such a position
15 Rashid Accounting Holder of bachelor in Arabic
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This is a small sample of appointments violating employment filling law,
which were made on basis of partisan and tribal loyalty.
Checking such decisions, the FC found the ministry represented by Sakher
Alwagih, is deeply sinking in corruption, nepotism and mood arbitrariness. It
has issued contradicting and disappointing resolutions as several appointments
monopolize public jobs, however, many who are legally entitled to employment
are banned, and senior appointments are being made in more job stations
whether inside or outside the MF.
For example, law no 140 for 2013 on appointing, in the MF, as many as 13
secretary and secretary-generals, including Abdu Ali Saleh appointed as the
MF's financial affairs secretary in contrary to job requirements, still have
pending corruption cases and being prosecuted. The lawsuit filed against him is
a public job exploitation and facilitating control over a public potential
estimated at 2 million and a half, by signing a deal with Wafa Foundation (an
Islah affiliating est.) and in cooperation with the minister of finance.
Abdulla
Musleh
Manager in
Foreign Ministry
Studies i.e. non-specialist,
appointed only in 2012 though
law stipulates relevant degree
and 10 years' experience
16 Tawfiq Ali
Saleh
Government
Accounting
general Manager
Appointed in 2013 without
considering work experience,
and promoted from a head of
department.
17
Jamal
Mohamed
abdo Alariqi
Central
Accreditation
General Manager
Violated the 13 years' work
experience
18
Qassem Ali
Ali
Almaswari
Accounting
Manager for
Ministry of
Electricity
Holder of a diploma after
preparatory in 1992. He worked
as a treasurer
19
Mohammed
Aidh
Albushari
Accounting
Manager of
Passport
Authority
Holder of SSC in 1996. His
appointment contradicts
Employment Law
20
Abdulfatah
Ibrahim
Muhie
Addeen
Accounting
Manager of the
MF since Dec 10,
2010
Attained a university certificate
only in 2013. He was dispatched
to study in Malaysia at expense
of the MF
21 Akram Yahia
Ali Qassem
Islamic Check
Dept. Manager
The job title is not included in
the OS
22 Ali Awadh
Ahmed
Deputy general
manager in the
minister's office
This is the last promotion made
in June 7 2013, was first
(illegally) appointed as a
secretary of the minister in Oct
8, 2012. He lacks job
requirements.
Financial Committee, Public Shadow Authority Revolution Salvation Front
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This is a pivotal role played by the MF to deteriorate principles of the public job
independence and neutrality, as the process takes place in response to influential
sheiks and military or political leaders, which lead to an absence of the
principles of priority and competence stipulated by valid laws (Civil Service
Code), eliminating many well-qualified and competent cadre and damaging the
MF in terms of increasing financial burdens more and more and holding sit-ins
and outrageous assemblies by those eliminated figures .
The minister trespasses his authorities and usurped entitlement of the prime
minister through appointing directors generals of financial affairs as well as
managers and deputy mangers in the customs authority.
The list of imbalances also includes transferring as many as 74 employees from
many institutions to the ministry headquarters in 2012, most of them are
affiliates to the minister party (Islah). In March 12 2013 a general notice was
issued to stop transferring, however, it was discarded by bringing other 43
employees and most of the newly appointed figures are financial affairs'
director-generals, accounting and procurement managers who are Islah
affiliates.
Last but not least, a separation between partisanship from one hand,
administration and public employment from the other must be made, and
adopting a precedence-and-priority based appointing is urgently needed for
progress.
Control over Finance
Given the reports by the central apparatus for monitoring and accountability
CAMA, the FC observed public potential wasting, spending unlawful amounts
and embezzlements; most of which relate to past years 2010, 2011. These
reports are just dead letters as no effective action is taken, for these key reasons:
The people accountable for these violations may have disappeared, for example,
the MF representatives, who once had worked there, have been moved to other
job stations. Some significant finance documents have been concealed by
concerned figures so as to misguide the central apparatus representative and
consequently to not easily know the persons responsible for these deviations.
Throughout long period of time, influential people and perpetrators find enough
chance to hide their wrongdoing via several techniques for which no need to
mention.
Efforts to bring these violations to the public funds prosecution may be exerted
by some CAMA representatives, yet if responsible bodies did not take required
action and follow-up, the people involved do all what is possible to settle their
problems and the exerted efforts are only flogging a dead horse.
Thus the FC recommends, to ensure a successful filing of violation cases and
bringing criminals to concerned bodies of punishment, instead of deputizing
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other, even if responsible, bodies and wasting efforts, a special sector to be
tasked with follow-up, punishment and take necessary action.
For example, the CAMA provide the MF with a copy of reports, yet the latter
does not move a muscle, especially under Consensus Government.
* Manipulating rules and regulations governing financial and administrative
work that touch real ground .
* Absence of actual control and of transparency on information access and little
understanding of new concepts of finance and admin. monitoring.
* Lack of analytic studies based on scientific basics and actual needs when
discussing and approving the state's public budget, considering results of the
CAMA reports and concluding statements of past years.
Instead of dependence on analytic studies, finance resources are subject to
individual evaluations and cancel of law no 8 for 1990 with its bylaws amended
by ministerial law no 1034 for 1999 due to lack of a text to determine pillars for
identify commercial and financial activities percentage, as follows:
1- Decisions are taken centrally, leading to personalization, partisan and region-
based loyalties, and responding based on state of mood,.
2- Lack of networking which serve actual and immediate control on many
finance resource expense.
3- Lack of constantly qualifying the employees, in light with financial and
admin. world developments and advancements.
4- Ineffective financial and admin. policies due to depending on unqualified
key-staff. These are in need of well training, experience and good knowledge.
5- The new appointments recently made in Ministry of Finance by virtue of
partisan loyalties made it easy for non-competent employees, often controlled
by influential centers, to undertake significant positions.
Observing the financial and administrative performance in the MF, the
committee re-affirms the following:
a- Manipulating the laws and regulations governing financial and administrative
work and policy of follow in financial situation.
b- Absence of actual monitoring and transparency on information access, and
misunderstanding the modern concepts of admin. and financial surveillance.
c- Fail to discuss and approve the state's public budget on basis of analytic study
and actual needs, in light of results of concluding fiscal statements of past years
and the CAMA reports.
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d- Financial revenues are subject to individual evaluation rather than analytic
studies, and discarding financial law no 8 for 1999 with its bylaws partially
amended by ministerial decree no 1034 for 1999, due to lack of foundations of
identifying financial and admin. activities and percentages.
Thus, the finance committee recommends a biannually or even annually
thorough review and inspection to be executed by the CAMA's representative,
in a way that ensure effective reports are timely presented to prevent being
manipulative.
Chapter III
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MF's Affiliates: Customs and Tax
Customs Authority
Reviewing three revenues reports for 2012 by the customs authority CA, the
report's preparing committee disclosed contradictions among CA's annual report
and magazine in terms of total amounts of revenues. The RSF's finance
committee FC noticed discrepancies in CA revenues when compared with its
annual general report, which confirms incongruity between the report and
revenues in the central bank CB.
Major corruption in CA's performance can be confirmed through
following violations:
Customs Evasion:
Reviewing customs law legal provisions, the FC observed the CA tasks are
not only confined to customs outlets but extend to customs area in terms of
investigation and customs trafficking fighting, as the CA practices no legal tasks
nor procedures regarding trafficking combating. This can be shown as follows:
A- The FC reviewed an official report on direct trafficking of (cigarettes) the
customs of which were only 747,860,062 YR besides fines which is not less
than these customs and have been accumulating each year since 1999 till 2012,
though the CA should not release any new shipments unless previous
settlements are made.
B- Smuggling is directly made from customs outlets and drugs are easily
brought (to Yemen)
C- The FC received documents unveil trafficking of suspected Indian cannabis
through Aden Free Zone Customs.
Billions YRs uncollected
Reviewing an official report referred on Jan 19, 2013 to Minister of Finance
MF, including legal violations and uncollected revenues, the FC noticed there
are 11,750 customs statements with 279 billion, 913 million and 146 thousand
YRs which is not provided to Public Treasury. Another memo referred to Head
of CA by Central Apparatus for Accounting & Monitoring, including dominant
corruption in Hodeida Port's Customs and a total of 4854 customs statements
are suspended and its fees 323 billion, 8880 million, 753 thousand and 608 YRs.
Another official report referred to Head of CA disclosed violating Customs Law
provisions as well as financial law, including unpaid collection vouchers, in
addition to a memo, referred by Higher Anti-corruption Board to Finance
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Minister, saying that $13,814,338 should have been offered by Hyundai Co to
the state as customs.
The FC stood on documents unveiling violations and evading paying due
customs amounts to the public treasury. These include entrance of electricity
generators and other equipment by name of the Abyan-based Yemeni-Saudi
Cement Factory. Though the prime minister ordered to move ownership of these
equipment to Electricity Corporation EC, the ministry of finance and CA
ordered the financial guarantees that were already provided, be retransmitted
from the factory to the EC.
Corrupted Customs Outlets , Sana'a Customs an Example
An estimated 1,214,840,551 YRs is supposed to be paid to the state's public
treasury as a result of customs violations in the Sana'a Airport Customs
Authority. The FC received a report referred to Minister of Finance by a
committee entrusted with a field visit to this customs office, disclosing illegally
return of 351 financial guarantees to their owners after being expired, which
prevents the treasury from 600,467,273 YR, deliberately postpone sums
supplied to the CB's deposit accounts instead of being paid to the PT, and 204
customs statements suspended, with 99,527,442 YRs, which incurred the state
heavy loss as a result of negligence.
It also unveiled facilitating clearance to traders, against guarantees, at expense
of the PT, 605 warrants of more than 835 million YRs with more than 262
million YR are due, extending 312 cases instead of 4 justifiable cases, illegally
clearing of the quick shipments which cause delay of customs fees, etc.
Customs Exemption Corruption
The FC observed granting customs exemption by the CA to government
bodies and importers in violation to customs law No 12 for 2010, as well as an
increase of these exemptions year after another. The CA confines only to
prepare memos to the departments the role of which is to publish notices and to
register issues Against Anonymous (Customs Fugitives).
Customs Value & Invoice Manipulate
The manipulation on imported commodities' customs value is made through
price generalizations by the CA that are average-customs value of a given
container. Some of the price manipulations on items includes price instructions
issued by the head of CA to its branches, and caused several violations. The FC
reviewed many faked invoices and samples of items value, and found the public
treasury is prevented from a legal 532,000,000 million YR, in addition to
manipulating tariff items to evade paying real customs value against bribing
specific individuals.
There are also manipulations on quantities, names of goods, and "Alterpetk"
fees, and individuals' obligations are more than fiscal revenues. The FC
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discovered that amounts provided to the treasury is only 5% of the legal amount
due to violations. Corruption also found pertaining employees' allocations.
Though a compromise manual was issued by the Finance Minister, the Customs
Authority has illegal customs fees.
Some of the CA's corruption cases covers spending dozens of millions on
meetings, consultation sessions and travel allowances. They further include
double-standard dealing and discrimination against traders from the south
districts etc. The minister of finance seemingly does not carefully consider
corrupt cases in customs office as it is clear from a document referred by
Manager of Monitoring & Inspection. Several appointments within CA were
made illegally, without considering principles of fairness, expertise, Age-based
priority and equal opportunity, rather these appointments were based on
favoritism and interests-dividing policies among CAs leadership and Ministry of
Finance. Last but not least, a number of general directors were appointed
without the necessary resolutions of relevance, including Systems Department's
Abdullatif Alsanbani, Jalal Shaif in Department of X-Ray, Risk Management,
and that of Temporary admins, in addition to other appointments. The Arabic
original text contains multiple figures of CA's violations which are not covered
in this briefing.
Tax Authority
Tax Authority TA normally works on achieving several economic, financial,
and social objectives through regulating economic resources, though the matter
is different in Yemen, as tax assessment is not often based on key indices of the
gross national production with its derivatives, which results in disregarding tax
performance when putting economic policies. Some of its embodiments are:
a- Narrow gap between societal purchase income, having tax performance
contributed to enlarging such gap within citizens with limited income,
businessmen and traders as collected wage taxes reached 110.3 million YR with
64%, and tax profits collected from public and private institutions and Corps.
were 56.8 million with 33%, which indicates bearing much more taxes by
individuals, in contrary to principle of tax equity.
b- Most tax collections focused on a limited number of assigned entities
compared with tax groups, as commercial tax profits CTP collected from private
money companies has reached only 20 entity with an amount of 8.9 million
(55,2%) from the total collection involved such sector which is 2417 taxpayers.
As for public and private units, the CTP involved 10 units with an amount of
16.7 million YR (79,5%) out of the tax collections from the sector's 200 payers
c- The wage taxes involving the private sector employees targeted 36 taxpayers
with 10,2 million YR (54%) out of wage tax collections from the sector's 38163
payers.
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d- As for taxes collected throughout the year, the amounts gathered from the
state's administrative apparatus and the private, cooperative and public sector's
economic units were 112,2 million (65,3%) while collections from commercial
and industrial private sector (finance companies ) were only 54,8 million YR,
with 31,9%, which indicates an expanded tax evasion in commercial and
industrial activities for this sector.
Causes of Tax linking Expansion in Private Sector's Commercial and Industrial
Activities
1- Continued according tax profits exemptions to most taxpayers in petroleum
services sector, based on contracts of production sharing "Parent Oil Company",
though some of them do not keep regular records, which leads to wasting tax
resources coming from the activities that are not subject to those exemptions.
2- shortcomings involve tax collecting, linking and accountability in
a way that allow such evasion. Some of its reflections are as follows:
- Tax confessions in favor of Tax Authority and its branches 87,108 with 17,4%
compared with the targeted achievement.
- 27,499 taxpayers were inquired and tax linking with 4% of the total target
695,952 taxpayers, which causes increasing danger of tax evasion for the cases
not subject to tax accountability.
Key Violations and Corruption Cases
It is worth mention the TA's reject a demand by Ahmed Saif Hashid dated Oct-
21-2012 on having information on telecom companies tax for the years
2011,2012,2013. The TA rejected the demand under pretext that the information
of commercial nature are excluded from the right of information accessibility
and the companies in question had already published their annual budgets in
official and private media, which openly contradicts the right of information
access, based on provisions 4,5,15 of law no (13) for 2012 which stipulates the
right of information accessibility regarding telecom companies tax is guaranteed
for citizens. It was issued after several media outlets talked about the
companies' rejecting paying due tax for many past years.
Though the TA refused to talk about its statements, the RSF's finance
committee – from the collected data- has noticed the following:
* the TA has neither reliable databases nor it keeps complete accounting
records for taxpayers in the republic of Yemen, and cannot obtain its payable
rights, from big individuals and traders, accumulated throughout dozens of tax
years, as well as from great contracting and construction co. with their sheikhs
owners.
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* Violating principles of tax equity and clarity, as it is clear from the multiple
stagnant files (archived with no processing), with the settled files in a TA public
department reaching (only) 27% out of the total taxpayers, which indicates, in
general, a fragile and ineffective tax performance.
* Taxes are centrally collected with 90% and a range of 4-5% of the total tax
from a province to another, which also indicates weak performance of the TA's
public offices in provinces and their district-based branches.
* Though multiple taxpayers assessed great deal of amounts and their names
are recorded in the assessing books, they are neither included in statements of
collecting departments, nor within end-of-year due balances.
* The lack of specific mechanisms by the provinces' executive offices, to be
followed in effective monitoring on collecting due taxing.
* Ineffective role played by the tax offices in provinces to identify annual
successive mistakes in local collected taxes, as the ratio of tax non-assessing for
the most significant local collection in all districts exceeded (-50%) which is a
critical offence in local tax collection.
* Clear-cut difference within procedures levied and applied when estimating
and assessing tax of similar activities.
* Disregarding determining value of customs data of taxpayers in most
provinces who are not included in restricting public departments and branches,
with hundreds of billions, whose tax difference estimated value is millions Yrs.
* The TA depends on employees and collectors receiving wages on daily basis,
which causes the TA to make critical deviations involving results of the
workers' monthly performed programs.
* The tax offices are active in main cities as well as collection shortcoming in
terms of equality between cities and districts taxpayers, as taxing in provinces is
estimated according to moods and its ratio is little in suburbs, not to mention the
absence of applying principle of law specialty on all provinces equally
* Loss of notifications (assessment 3 sample) granted to a number of collectors,
and no legal action is taken regarding who owns the receipts in most affiliated
offices.
* The implementing offices' actual expenditure is exaggeration (budget+ private
accounts) constituting (30% to 49%) of the revenues collected via offices,
which is approximately one third of the revenues in some offices and vary in the
other.
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* Close to one-third of tax revenues are granted to collectors without
considering applying the principles regulating revenues and spending from
them.