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Arafat
Names PM Within Days, Audit Report Released
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| Arafat is to name the first ever Palestinian primer next week, said Larsen |
RAMALLAH,
March 1 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Palestinian
President Yasser Arafat is expected to name the first ever Palestinian
prime minister within days, said U.N.
Middle East envoy Terje Roed-Larsen after a meeting with Arafat
Friday, February 28.
Roed-Larsen
told reporters that Arafat said he would call a meeting of the
Palestine Liberation Organisation Central Council late next week, BBC
News Online reported Saturday, March 1.
He
said the Palestinian leader would also call "immediately
thereafter - next Saturday - for a meeting of the Palestinian
Legislative Council where he will announce the person whom he has
nominated for prime minister and seek the approval of the
council."
However,
a Palestinian official later said that the announcement would be made
on 11 March, after the Palestinian Authority's "basic law" -
its de facto constitution - had been amended to allow for a prime
minister, Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Earlier
this month, Arafat bowed to pressure from the European Union (EU) and
the United States to say he would share power with a prime minister as
part of efforts to reform his administration.
Palestinian
Finance Minister Salam Fayad, PLO second-in-command Mahmud Abbas,
International Cooperation Minister Nabil Shaath and PLC Speaker Ahmed
Qorei have been unofficially named as potential candidates for the new
post.
PA
Releases Audit Report for Transparency
In
a bid to repudiate claims of corruption, Fayad presented Friday the
first audit report of the Palestinian Authority's (PA) commercial
assets, in what is seen as an important step towards increased
transparency.
Entitled
"Initial Report on Valuation and Transparency as of January 1,
2003," the 345-page document was compiled by U.S. ratings company
Standard & Poor's, said AFP.
"This
report consolidates our efforts at transparency by making public
figures that were held away from the public eye.
"The
report was published as is, we did not touch it," said Fayad, who
also heads the recently-established Palestinian Investment Funds
(PIF), which manages the assets.
The
former World Bank official also denied that the Palestinian Authority
had secret accounts or had funnelled money to groups accused by Israel
and the United States of terrorism.
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| "The report was published as is, we did not touch it," said Fayad |
"It
is really not too hard to do the accounting and to show that what ever
limited resources we had ... we were funding basic government
functions," he stressed, adding that Friday's financial
disclosure was meant to restore credibility, not only to the
Palestinian Authority but also to President Arafat.
The
report's release was hailed as positive by the European Commission,
which provides the bulk of the financial aid going to the PA, mainly
in the form of budget support.
"For
the first time in the PA's history, comprehensive information about
its companies that were hitherto escaping fiscal control, has been
made public," said the European Commission head in Al-Quds, Jean
Breteche.
"Were
it not for Mr. Fayad, this audit wouldn't have been carried out. It is
a great achievement in promoting the PA's transparency and
credibility," he added.
The
report lists a total of 79 local and international commercial
investments, owned or controlled by the PA and valued at over 600
million dollars with a total average return rate of 30 million dollars
a year.
The
report also said that the PA’s overall debt is about $US 1.2
billion.
Ten
companies were fully reviewed, including a valuation and transparency
diagnostic report.
Fayad
has, in addition, promised to end the use of cash in government
transactions, particularly in the payment of wages to Palestinian
security forces, and to, for the first time, integrate the separate
defence budget into the overall public accounts.
He
also has vowed to fight the perception held by many Palestinians that
there is widespread corruption in the government.
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