The Tel Aviv District Court today sentenced Ayelet Azulai, bureau chief of late Minister of Defense Binyamin Ben Eliezer, to 200 hours of community service and fined her NIS 50,000. Azulai was convicted after admitting to fraud and breach of trust by leaking confidential information to businessman Jacky Ben-Zaken. The information leaked by Azulai to Ben-Zaken concerned the decision by the Israel Petroleum Council about the drilling license of Shemen Industries Ltd. (TASE;SHMN), a company controlled by Ben-Zaken and his partner, Avraham Nanikashvili.
Ben-Zaken himself was convicted of abetting breach of trust in the same affair. Ben-Zaken was accused exerting pressure on the Petroleum Council with the help of Ben Eliezer and Azulai, and of contacting private concerns for the purpose of improving Shemen Industries' chances of obtaining a drilling license for the Med Ashdod site. Ben-Zaken was sentenced to four months of community service and fined NIS 65,000.
The State Prosecutor's Office filed an indictment against Ben Eliezer in December 2015 for bribery, money laundering, fraud, breach of trust, and tax violations. Ben Eliezer was accused of having received money from businessmen, headed by Nanikashvili, in return for actions involving his various positions, and using it to buy real estate.
Nanikashvili was accused, among other things, of having given Ben Eliezer $400,000 to buy the latter's penthouse in Jaffa. In exchange for this "loan," it was suspected that Ben Eliezer promoted the interests of Shemen Industries.
According to the indictment, Ben-Zaken "demanded" a quid pro quo in telephone conversations with Ben Eliezer and Azulai. The indictment states that Ben Eliezer and Azulai exerted pressure on Petroleum Council members and contacted private concerns in order to improve Shemen Industries' chances of receiving a drilling license for the Med Ashdod site.
After Ben Eliezer's death in August 2016, the State Prosecutor's Office announced that it would continue the criminal trial of the other defendants in the case.
The Tel Aviv State Prosecutor's Office (taxation and economics) said in response, "The Court today rejected Ayelet Azulai's request to vacate her conviction, after having been convicted according to her confession in the original indictment filed against her. The conviction sets a precedent; for the first time, a public servant was convicted of leaking information from an internal meeting."
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on February 21, 2017
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