The Prime Minister's house after the renovation, Balfour Street, Rehavia neighborhood, Jerusalem.
February 9, 2023/Roham Spokesperson
The Deputy Legal Adviser to the Government, Dr. Gil Lemon, sent a letter to the Director General of the Prime Minister's Office in which he restored control over the scope and type of expenses required for the operation of the Prime Minister's official and private residence for the approval of the Prime Minister's Office accountant.
This decision means that there will be supervision of the expenses, unlike what has been the case so far when the expenses were approved only by the Director General of the Prime Minister's Office - Yossi Sheli. Also in the letter, Dr. Limon stated that financing expenses for the Prime Minister's dormitories must be done sparingly and efficiently.
The letter was sent to the Director General of the Prime Minister's Office after last March the Finance Committee of the Knesset changed the rules regarding the financing of the Prime Minister's and ministers' expenses. This amendment took control of the supervision and financing of the Prime Minister's dormitory expenses from senior officials in the Prime Minister's Office, and transferred it to the Director General to the Prime Minister's Office Yossi Shelli. In contrast to these factors - in which the Prime Minister's Office, the Spokesman and the Deputy Director of the Ministry considered - the Director General of the Prime Minister's Office Yossi Shelli holds a position of trust, which depends solely on the Prime Minister.
As a result, a Petition to the High Court through lawyers Gilad Sher and Gilad Barnea from the civil democratic movement attacking the change in the rules.
Prime Minister's residence in Balfour/Flash 90, Nati Shohat
It also appears from Limon's letter that the change in the rules must be interpreted in such a way that the expenses will be conducted in a proper and proportionate manner.
"The expenses of the Prime Minister's residence are governed by norms regarding proper public conduct, proportionality, reasonableness, savings and efficiency in the use of public funds by elected officials," he wrote.
"This, regardless of whether an explicit arrangement has been established for a particular expense or whether it is done on the basis of a general arrangement, or even in the absence of an arrangement. Regarding these expenses, one must act with transparency and public sensitivity that will guarantee the public's trust in their elected officials."
At the end of his letter, Lemon clarifies that the Prime Minister's wife will be entitled to funding her expenses only if she accompanied the Prime Minister to an official position: "Government funding for the expenses of the Prime Minister's wife (including hospitality and documentation expenses) is only possible where her participation in the event is accompanied by the participation of the Prime Minister the government itself or when it was done as part of the prime minister's role," he wrote.
"The decision does not grant independent status to the Prime Minister's wife, and it is not possible to finance other expenses by virtue of it."
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