Property in Binyamina owned by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his brothers, Yermi and Amram, is up for sale. A “Globes” investigation has uncovered two conflicting issues are affecting the property’s value. Recently, the property registry (Tabu) judge issued a warning against the property. The second issue is that the incoming finance minister is to due to sign an Israel Land Administration (ILA) regulation that will enhance the value of the property.
Two months ago, a sentence was handed down in the case against the property’s tenant, an associate of the Olmert brothers. The tenant was found guilty of illegal building and improper use of an agricultural property.
Varnik operated a kindergarten and camp on the property without a permit or approval of the ILA. The kindergarten was in operation when Ehud Olmert was the minister responsible for the ILA. The court ordered a warning to be written in the Tabu and issued a demolition order against the property.
Under the Planning and Building Law, the parties responsible for the illegal building and use of the property are both the property owners and the persons who carried out the illegal acts.
The Olmert property is located in Nahalat Jabotinsky, a moshav (communal farming village) founded by members of the Herut movement (predecessors of the Likud party). The moshav is now part of the town of Binyamina, on the coastal strip near Zikhron Yaakov, between Hadera and Haifa. The Olmert property is a 4.4-dunam (1.1-acre) lot defined as an auxiliary farm. The property is occupied by a 160-sq.m. house, two structures and a cowshed (now used as a kindergarten). The rest of the lot is designated as farmland. The asking price for the property is reportedly $600,000, of which one-third will go to the ILA for its consent.
Auxiliary farms of around one acre in moshavim have fewer building rights than regular farms of 2.5 acres and larger in moshavim, and the building rights of the auxiliary farms are adjusted to the rights of the regular farms. Five years ago, the government suspended the handling of new regulations for auxiliary farms. A few months ago, the ILA Council approved two regulations. Regulation 979 grants new and improved building rights to owners of regular farms. Regulation 1091 awards new building rights to owners of auxiliary farms.
Minister of Housing and Construction Meir Sheetrit signed both regulations, but the minister of finance must countersign them for them to come into effect. Olmert signed Regulation 979 last week, near the end his term as acting finance minister. However, because of the conflict of interests as an owner of an auxiliary farm, he did not sign Regulation 1091.
Regulation 1091 is due to be signed by the next minister of finance, and if it signed in its present format, it will end the five-year freeze in auxiliary farms development, and boost the value of all auxiliary farms. In theory, if Regulation 1091 is approved, at least five houses, each with a 500-sq.m. lot, can be built on the Olmert’s property. The prevailing price for a 500-sq.m. lot in Binyamina is $230,000-250,000.
The tenant said in response, “I swear that Ehud Olmert was unaware of what was going on at the farm. I, and only I, am responsible. The contract explicitly states that I cannot make any change in the property. I didn’t understand the significance of ILA land or of the planning commission. The Olmert family really didn’t know what was going on.”
The Prime Minister’s Bureau said in response, “Regulation 979 does not apply to the prime minister’s property. At the time, the prime minister notified the previous attorney general about the property and said that it prevented him from making decisions relating to auxiliary farms. He also notified the ILA and its legal counsel of this fact.”
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on July 5, 2007
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2007