In contrast to the other standards of audit in the Israeli State Comptroller's Law (legality, regularity, efficiency and economy), the concept of 'moral integrity' has no clear cut definition. Intuitively we tend to place infringements of 'moral integrity' by public servants in the grey area between criminal acts and improper administration or misguided decisions. The Reader is disigned to provide Israeli auditors involved in the evaluation of government activities with an outline of the major issues and considerations related to the audit of 'moral integrity' in the public service. Thus the first chapter of the book deals with defining the topic, establishing its boundaries and ascertaining the legislature's intent.
The second chapter reviews the wide range of legislation and regulations in which general rules were set as to the appropriate behaviour of civil servants in various areas of activity -whether through the enactment of laws, opinions of the Attorney General or civil service regulations. Included are such issues as 'conflicts of interest' of elected officials; rules concerning directors on the boards of public enterprises; the participation of public employees in decisions regarding subjects in which they have a personal stake; the acceptance of favours by civil servants; limits on the right to be elected to public office; limitations on employment in addition to one's occupation in the public service; and prohibitions on the use of inside information. The third chapter includes several articles and court decisions dealing with the undefined aspects of morality in public service in an attempt to delineate the ways in which to deal with them in the framework of state audit.
The fourth chapter is a compendium of audit reports on various subjects relating to the issue of moral integrity in the civil service. Finally, the fifth chapter poses the question of whether ethics in public service is a question of geography. Included are articles and viewpoints from various countries on such issues as conflict of interest; the 'revolving door' phenomena regarding executives who leave government service for work in enterprises with which they have had connections in their prior functions; the dilemma of the 'whistle-blowers' and protecting those who uncover corruption in government; and other problems common to the public service. Most of the Reader is in Hebrew. However, should any reader of the Journal be interested in a specific topic within this issue-area, the Israeli State Comptroller's Office will do its best to put the material at their disposal in English.
- Contributed by State Comptroller's Office
Jerusalem: Israel.