Without Oversight of Party Funding, with Stuck Reports: The Comptroller's Seat is Empty - and Someone Benefits

A month after the High Court disqualified Michael Ravilo's election as State Comptroller, the Knesset has not held a new vote, leaving the post vacant. The vacuum paralyzes the comptroller's personal powers: protecting whistleblowers, transferring criminal suspicions, overseeing party funding ahead of elections, and publishing audit reports, including those on the October 7 events. Experts warn of a 'real governmental void' and harm to the public.

The State Comptroller has not been serving for a month, after the High Court disqualified the election of attorney Michael Ravilo to the post, due to a substantial violation of the secrecy principle in the vote. Despite the ruling, the Knesset Speaker and coalition figures refuse to hold a new vote, and Ravilo announced he would not enter office as long as it would violate the court order. The vacuum paralyzes personal powers vested in the comptroller himself, not the office: issuing protection orders for whistleblowers, transferring suspicions of criminal offenses to the Attorney General, deciding on sensitive complaints in the Public Complaints Commission, and overseeing party funding during election periods. New audit reports are not approved or published, including four major audits related to the October 7 events, which bereaved families have been waiting for nearly three years. Audited bodies are already raising claims about inquiries 'without authority'. Experts, including Prof. Yoram Rabin and Liora Shimoni, warn of a 'real governmental void' and harm to the state's ability to detect and correct failures. They note that the silence around the vacuum is incomprehensible, and that the one paying the price is the public.

Without Oversight of Party Funding, with Stuck Reports: The Comptroller's Seat is Empty - and Someone Benefits