Reference to the report on oil control in Yemen by Al Eissi and...

Reference to the report on oil control in Yemen by Al Eissi and Jalal Hadi in my above post: https://almasdaronline.com/article/report-jalal-hadi-dealt-with-the-houthis-in-the-import-of-fuel-and-al-eissi-monopolizes-its-trade

The report is sourced from Sanaacenter and is dated 05 Nov 2018 - see bottom of following article.

Report:«Jalal Hadi» dealt with the Houthis in the import of fuel and «Al-Eissi»monopolizes its trade

• ALMASDARONLINE
• ٠٦ نوفمبر ٢٠١٨

A report issued by the Sana'a Center for Strategic Studiessaid that corruption and abuse of power for personal gain are highly prevalentin Yemen, where the global anti-corruption Organization ("TransparencyInternational» ranked Yemen 175 out of 180.

Corruption in Yemen is not a new development, he said in areport released by corruption and the war economy. For decades, the country hasseen what the World Bank describes as "state acquisition", with theelitist minority dominating state institutions for illicit gain.

He said the ongoing conflict in the country did not alterthis system of the seizure state, where the patronage networks pass through thefront lines, with the alleged opponents willingly cooperating to maximize theirgains.

These networks of changing patronage--and the war economythat they support--are a driving force behind the conflict.

The war economy had flourished, and corruption had becomesystemic and in some cases politically non-political, consisting of a widerange of actors, interests, and activities, from senior decision makers andmilitary commanders; to emerging and newly empowered businessmen; to localsecurity officials controlling points Inspection, down to commercial bankersand cashiers.

According to the report, which was drafted by a group ofeconomists as part of a project to re-imagine the economy of Yemen, implementedby the Sana'a Centre for Strategic Studies, the deep-ro company and the AppliedResearch Centre in partnership with the East, the networks of corruption wentbeyond conflict and became cross-border and fronts between The government andthe Houthis.

He notes that the war has made state resources--oil and gasin particular--to parties that have been marginalized or unknown in the past,with the Houthis controlling the sale of fuel, customs, taxation,telecommunications, and automobile imports.

He adds that the military and civilian factions loyal to theUAE have been controlling energy in both Hadramawt and Shabwah, while"other major energy facilities in the nominal Marib are under the controlof the exiled government in Riyadh, while local government strength isincreasing in the province."

The report touched on rampant military corruption, withpro-government officers exaggerating the number of soldiers under their commandto receive overpaid salaries and receiving material support (weapons,ammunition, fuel, vehicles and other important equipment).

The money comes mainly from the two dominant members of the coalition,Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The presence of these wealthy sponsors has madeanti-Hawiye military and security personnel more than one command list. As thiscontinues, Yemeni patronage networks extend beyond borders.

On arms smuggling, the report said that the easy access ofweapons from the eastern governorates to the Houthi areas points to collusionbetween the two poles of conflict, which in fact benefit from the same armsflows.

He explained that with the war, the country became dependenton imported fuels because of the interruption of oil production, which provideda great opportunity to generate money for fuel dealers, energy imports becamemore profitable, with which Ahmed Al-Eissi, the dominant player in Aden.

"Supply contracts for fuel supply contain conditionsthat include a tight delivery time, which no other applicant can fulfill, withEissi group retaining those concessions and becoming the only entity authorizedto import fuel with the Aden refinery company Monopoly," the report said.

In the Houthi areas, the group's fuel importers--who werepreviously unknown to members of the Yemeni business community--have opened upfuel imports through the port of Hodeidah and local fuel market sales.

"Some reports indicate that they are importing low-qualityIranian fuel for sale in the local Yemeni market for a large profit, andtargeting assets such as fuel trucks and fuel stations for non-Houthimerchants," he added.

"The Saudi-led coalition allows imports to enter portsonly with the approval of President Hadi," the report said. Thisstrengthens Hadi's son, Jalal, since March 2015 until the installation of theUnited Nations Verification and Inspection Mechanism (UNVIM) in May 2016, Jalalbecame a party of contact and payment for the import of fuel permits.

"Houthi businessmen have established a good workingrelationship with Jalal as a result of obtaining a new fuel importpermit," he added.

According to the report, the war allowed the rulingauthorities to avoid checking their imports. In Marib, the central bank branchoperates independently of the main bank in Aden and is unwilling to discloseits local revenue and expenditure figures.

He noted that customs revenues do not know where to go,while the government was receiving revenues for its shares in the Masilaoilfield in Hadramawt directly, and transferred to a private bank account inthe Saudi National Bank in the name of President Hadi, while the Houthis turnthe money they reap to supply their war.

He said that the persistence of the Yemeni conflict has madepatronage networks remarkably more complex and allowed new personalitiesformerly marginalized or unknown to penetrate the traditional and emerging waysof illicit profit.

The report recommended that the fight against corruptionshould begin with the recognition by policymakers of the complexity of theirnetworks, the smooth implementation of the agenda to combat it, and broadsupport such as the promotion of transparency, the reduction of conflicts ofinterest and the improvement of government financial management.

He also stressed the need to strengthen the centralmonitoring and Accountability Agency, the Supreme National Authority foranti-corruption, the general authority for land and the Financial InformationUnit, and to finance and activate it adequately to operate independently.

He called for an independent and frequent internal review ofall state-owned enterprises, the granting of access to freedom of information,and disclosure by those responsible of their personal financial statements whenthey were appointed, their mandate and their leave to office.

He stressed the publication of details of all governmenttenders, as well as the remuneration and allowances of all senior levels in thestate, and the availability of all information to public and private companies,registration documents, proof of ownership, number of employees, income, andexpenses.

The report emphasized the implementation of conflict ofinterest standards among officials, the legal obligation of individuals to beused by the government to relinquish control over any private business, and theestablishment of a system whereby central positions of economic control andmanagement, such as the Yemeni oil company, would be traded on the basisMandatory and Periodic.

He urged the implementation of new regulations on equalemployment opportunities within the public sector, the prohibition of theissuance of state-run contracts to senior military commanders, and the gradualdismantling of checkpoints to reduce the incidence of bribery, reform and thegradual downsizing of military and security apparatus.

It was suggested that a system for collecting governmentreceipts and controlling the disbursement of funds should be establishedthrough the various branches of government and state institutions, emphasizingthe implementation of a new national budget, that the details of this budget bemade publicly available, and ensuring strict budgetary controls and oversightof revenues and expenditures .

The report stressed that the central bank of Yemen iscompletely independent. All revenues obtained through the central governingauthorities are deposited in the Central bank branch rather than redirected tothe offices of government officials.

He stressed the close monitoring of financial assistance forpost-war reconstruction and local development projects. The continued provisionof such assistance has been made conditional on progress towards the statedresults.

To see the summary of the report

http://sanaacenter.org/publica...