Minister of Foreign Affairs Avigdor Liberman is being charged with breach of trust in the ambassador to Belarus affair, and an indictment will be filed with the court after the Knesset lifts his immunity, states the draft indictment that Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein sent to Knesset Speaker MK Reuben Reuvin and Liberman's attorney today.
Liberman is charged with appointing Zeev Ben-Arie as head of his political bureau and later as Ambassador to Latvia, after Ben-Arie, in his capacity as Israel's Ambassador to Belarus, leaked to Liberman details from an investigation document that Israel's State Prosecutor wanted to send to the Belarus law enforcement authorities. The Ministry of Justice contends that Liberman should be charged with moral turpitude in the violation.
"During his term as foreign minister, who is responsible for the country's foreign affairs, the accused carried out during the fulfillment of his duties, acts of fraud and breach of trust, which materially harm the public," wrote the prosecutor. "Liberman initiated, and acted to realize, the appointment of Ben-Arie as an adviser to the foreign minister, while aware of the improper acts of Ben-Arie, which were carried out with his knowledge, in his affairs, and on his behalf. Liberman gave Ben-Arie his consent and avoided dissuading him from competing for the post of ambassador to Latvia, and he acted to approve the appointment to this post at the ministerial committee and in the cabinet, by refraining from bring to the attention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs appointments committee, of the ministerial committee, and of the Israeli government, what he knew about the serious actions of Ben-Arie in the affair of the leak of confidential information."
The indictment also describes how Liberman carried out these actions, in the knowledge that Ben-Arie committed a criminal act when he provided Liberman with confidential information from the investigation document, and that Ben-Arie "grossly violated the confidence given him as the person responsible for the confidential handling of requests for legal assistance by the Israeli law enforcement authorities," which made him unfit to be appointed to another sensitive post in the Foreign Ministry.
The indictment says that Liberman, in the knowledge that Ben-Arie acted with the objective of benefiting him, and that Ben-Arie's appointment to subsequent posts "was tantamount to rewarding a person who committed serious acts for him, or that the matter was liable to be perceived as a reward."
The indictment will be filed 30 days after the motion to lift Liberman's immunity is submitted to the Knesset, or earlier if the Knesset holds a discussion earlier, or if Liberman announces that he will not claim immunity.
Hours before Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein's decision to indict Liberman, there were calls in political system for Liberman to resign. Labor Party chairwoman MK Shelly Yachimovich said, "We are talking about an extremist and a corrupt man. Even if a decision is taken not to indict him in the [shell companies] affair because of lack of evidence, and a decision is taken to only indict him in the ostensibly lesser case of the ambassador to Belarus, we will demand Liberman's immediate resignation, as required by law."
Meretz chairwoman MK Zahava Gal-On threated to petition the High Court of Justice if Liberman did not resign. "The High Court of Justice has ruled that a government minister must act according to the rules of honesty and morality, but Liberman has demonstrated corruption and thuggery and violated the public's trust. If minister Liberman does not announce his resignation immediately, I will petition the High Court of Justice to order him to do so," she said. "Liberman's tongue-lashing of the European community, which was intended to divert attention from the indictment against him, demonstrates that every additional day in which he serves in his post causes irreversible damage to the State of Israel."
At a press conference on Thursday evening, Liberman dismissed the charges against him as minor, and said that he had no intention of resigning.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 13, 2012
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2012