Matanyahu Englman, Israel’s newly-appointed state comptroller, is planning a comprehensive reform in his office. Conflicting reports have already led to internal criticism, but now, his plan has been revealed, as reported in Monday’s Yisrael Hayom newspaper by correspondent Moti Tuchfeld.

It appears that Englman will be appointing expert professionals in their respective fields to audit bodies and cancel the anti-corruption unit that operated in his office. The reform, which began when the new comptroller took office, is nearing its completion. While there have been conflicting reports as to details of the reform, Tuchfeld now releases the details of the comprehensive changes taking place.

One appointment includes IDF Colonel (reserves) Yishai Vaknin, who built the audit unit in the IDF. He will become the director-general of the comptroller’s office. In addition, a professional consult has been added to the staff, one familiar with the auditing field. Englman, they say, will not back down from his pervasive decision because of criticism, and he is currently conducting a series of meetings and consultation with professionals to complete the reform in the near future.

The cancelation of the anti-fraud unit is one of the first measures taken by Englman. That unit was established during the tenure of Michal Lindenstrauss, and Englman feels the unit detracts from his office’s auditing duties, resulting in government offices hesitating when asked to provide answers during audits. He feels there is no justification for such a unit in the comptroller’s office, since this would be a criminal matter, not one of auditing. He feels the anti-corruption unit exhausted resources and manpower and it compelled auditors from dealing with details of gossip instead of doing serious work.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)