The National Palestinian Authority has opened the file of corruption, which has been a public demand during the recent Intifada, particularly after the assassination of the Palestinian TV and Radio General Coordinator, rumored of being involved in embezzlement.
The Palestinian daily Al Hayat Al Jadida has reported that the secretary of the National Security High Council, General Abdul Razzaq Al Majaideh has ordered disciplinary measures against three senior police officers after a prostitution and a blackmailing ring run by a colonel was unveiled.
“According to the decision taken, one colonel was dismissed from service after his rank had been downgraded to that of a private (an ordinary soldier); another colonel was downgraded to a Lieutenant colonel and suspended from service; and a Brigadier was transferred to another department and deprived from assuming a position,” the newspaper said.
On the other hand, Al Ittihad Emirati newspaper reported from Gaza that a number of Palestinian figures have recently fled to Cairo fearing for their lives.
This news have spread after the Palestinian Authority decided to sequester the properties of Hisham Makki, Gaza’s TV and radio coordinator who was assassinated last week.
Reports said that among those who fled the territories were officials holding second top ranks in the PA’s departments. Some opposition factions attributed the flight of these figures to what they believe as a serious intention on the part of “al Aqsa Martyrs Battalions” in pursuing and punishing them. The so-called anti-corruption unit of the battalions threatened all of the Palestinian Authority officials involved in corruption to meet the same destiny of Makki. Some sources do not rule out the possibility of al Aqsa Battalions being part of the Fateh faction.
President Yasser Arafat ordered to freeze the cash and non-cash properties of Makki, said to amount to 17 million dollars. House arrest of some of his family members was imposed and others were prevented from leaving Gaza.
It has been revealed that Makki was interrogated for corruption charges six months ago. Senior Fateh leaders have been cited in reports as asserting that Arafat’s determination to open corruption files.
Al Ittihad said that a senior officer at the Palestinian Intelligence Department confirmed this information but the chief of the Palestinian Inspection Agency, Jarrar Al Kudwah, denied as baseless the news reports regarding the sequestering of Makki’s properties.
Al Kudwah said that the General Inspection Agency’s procedures regarding Makki’s accounts have to do only with some loans he has taken from the PA. However, “the interference of the attorney general in Makki’s case has not been due to what has been called corruption,” but rather because it was a genocide case and investigation was launched for that reason.
The Palestinian official pointed out that despite violations, “there has been a big improvement in the performance of the Palestinian Authority organizations over the past few years,” indicating that his agency “has released four annual reports on the financial performance of the Palestinian Authority since 1997, and it is in the process of completing a fifth one due to be released next March -- Albawaba.com
