Panel Urges Arafat to Fire Entire Cabinet

A Palestinian legislative panel reported wide-ranging corruption in Yasser Arafat’s administration Tuesday--from misuse of foreign aid to bribes for car licenses--and urged that he sack his entire Cabinet.

The panel called for three ministers to be tried. While its findings have no legal weight, they put Arafat on the spot, compelling him either to repudiate his political allies or face rising public anger over financial abuses.

The Palestinian Authority president quickly sought to cast the report in a positive light. Arafat’s spokesman, Marwan Kanafani, praised it and said it provides “a strong basis” for a Cabinet reshuffle that Arafat was already planning.

Yet lawmakers and even some members of Arafat’s administration faulted the panel for failing to examine Arafat’s role in any wrongdoing. “The mismanagement starts from the top--way up on top,” declared Husam Khader, a legislator from Nablus.

The investigating committee was formed in response to a state comptroller’s report that found $326 million of the Palestinian government’s $800-million annual budget had been squandered through corruption or mismanagement.

The report blamed the Cabinet for allegedly failing to follow up reports of mismanagement.

The three ministers it recommended be brought to trial include Nabil Shaath, the chief Palestinian negotiator, who was accused of charging his home phone and electric bills to the government.

Among the report’s allegations:

* Information Minister Yasser Abed-Rabbo used $7,500 from the ministry budget to pay for central heating at his house.

* Transportation Minister Ali Qawasmeh took bribes to license cars that failed road standards.

* Jamil Tarifi’s Civil Affairs Ministry and Shaath’s Planning Ministry misappropriated funds from foreign donors. The commission’s report did not specify which foreign donors or the sums involved.

Besides Shaath, the committee called for putting Tarifi and Qawasmeh on trial.

Committee members said Tuesday that the state comptroller’s estimate of hundreds of millions of dollars in losses was too high and said an accurate estimate could only be determined after an investigation by the state attorney.

Arafat’s government has been buffeted by a series of corruption and mismanagement charges.

The reports have raised concern among international donors, who overall have pledged $1.5 billion to Arafat’s 3-year-old government, including $225 million from the United States. But far less has arrived, in part because of concerns about the allegations.