Ministers delay bill to limit authority of state comptroller
Limited cabinet support sees controversial legislation that would limit purview of independent investigations postponed for at least a month
Tamar Pileggi is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
The Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday delayed for at least a month a vote on proposed legislation designed to limit the authority of the state comptroller.
After Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and other cabinet members expressed opposition to the measure, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked decided not to bring the bill, which was proposed by her own Jewish Home party, to a vote on Sunday.
The bill, sponsored by MK Bezalel Smotrich, would prevent the comptroller from criticizing the executive branch’s ongoing decision-making process, limiting him to commentary on past decisions and conduct.
Under Smotrich’s proposal, the comptroller would no longer have the authority to order state bodies to address the shortcomings detailed in his investigations or issue followup reports to ensure the problems had been addressed.
He would also lose the ability to open investigations at his own discretion.
According to Hebrew media reports, Kahlon urged the committee to vote on the bill during the weekly meeting of the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, the cabinet panel for fast-tracking bills, in order to kill the initiative.
Kahlon and his Kulanu party have already announced their objection to the legislation, while opposition parties strongly criticized it.
“This government continues looking after only its own interests. This time, the state comptroller is the target,” Labor party chairman Avi Gabbay said.
“The corrupt political culture of this government allows it to further undermine its gatekeepers,” he said according to reports. “Limiting the comptroller’s authority doesn’t serve the public but only government members who wish to operate unsupervised.”
Former prime minister Ehud Barak also publicly expressed opposition to the measure.
“And now the state comptroller is being slaughtered as well?” Barak tweeted on Sunday. “They [Netanyahu’s supporters] are initiating bills that belong in Zimbawe under [ousted and notoriously corrupt dictator Robert] Mugabe. What a disgrace.”
But Smotrich maintained the comptroller has too much power and his investigations drain resources.
During the Sunday debate, he told committee members that the office “wields too much power” over the executive branch.
He argued that an internal investigation launched by the state comptroller could “undermine the investigation” and possibly “impose additional bureaucratic burden on the investigated bodies, which will require considerable investment of resources on their part.”
