State Comptroller: Third of all public complaints justified

State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss, the public ombudsman, has reviewed a total of 9,749 complaints in 2007, 33.7% of which he believes were justified.

Topping the list of offending institutions was the National Insurance Institute of Israel which faced 998 complaints, followed by the Israel Police which faced 577, complaints and the Justice Ministry which faced 355 complaints. The Finance Ministry, Interior Ministry, Education Ministry and Science, Culture and Sport Ministry are next on this list of top offenders.

Of the long list of complaints that were lodged with the state comptroller, 64% of all complaints lodged against the Transportation Ministry and 45% of complaints lodged against the police department and court system were found to have merit.

The overwhelming majority of all complaints, some 80% to be exact, were formally lodged by members of Knesset. Knesset Member Zevulun Orlev (National Union-National Religious Party) lodged 70% of these aforementioned complaints, with MK Ami Ayalon (Labor), MK Shelly Yacimovich (Labor), MK Arieh Eldad (NU-NRP), and MK Ran Cohen (Meretz) lodging two complaints apiece.

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Here are a few examples of the shortcoming and failings of our public institutions, as highlighted in the report presented by Lindenstrauss Wednesday:

A Rehovot driver lodged a complaint with the city’s police department for their failure to locate and apprehend a fellow motorist which drove recklessly and threatened him while on the road. The complainant gave police officers the offender’s name, as well as two telephone numbers where he could be reached, but the police failed to follow up on the case and apprehend the offending party.

The complaint was found by the comptroller to have merit, as the Rehovot Police were clearly negligent in their investigation. The Police Department’s Central District Chief informed the comptroller’s office that disciplinary action will be taken against the three police officers involved in this case.

A resident of Dir Hanna in the Galilee petitioned the state comptroller after the town’s local council charged his son property taxes for a building that the son did not own. All charges owed by the alleged property owner were canceled, and the city’s property tax division was instructed not to collect property taxes from individuals until there is definitive proof that construction on the property is complete and it is fit for use.

Certificates for whistleblowers exposing corruption

Comptroller Lindenstrauss stated that his office received 56 complaints alleging corruption in 2007, one of them from former Finance Ministry Accountant General Dr. Yaron Zlika.

In his report, Lindenstrauss also indicated that he has issued six temporary restraining orders meant to protect defendants until further examination of their cases can be undertaken by the state controller’s office. Two such complaints were later found justified, and permanent restraining orders were then issued against the offending institutions.

An additional 12 complaints were never examined by the office because they are currently under legal deliberation, 10 complaints were deemed unjustified by the state comptroller, and three complaints pertained to institutions not under the jurisdiction of the State Comptroller's Office.