Labor party forgery suspected

Histadrut Labor Federation leader Amir Peretz’s staff accused of forging Labor Party census forms; source close to Peretz denies allegations
By Attila Somfalvi

TEL AVIV - The Labor Party has lodged a complaint against Amir Peretz, leader of the Histadrut Labor Federation and his staff, accusing them of forging Labor Party census forms.

Labor Party legal advisor Eldad Yaniv and private investigator Meir Palevsky filed the complaint with the Israel Police Central Investigation Unit Sunday.

A source close to Peretz, however, said the allegations are baseless.

"They are talking about 30 forms out of thousands" the source said. "Amir Peretz brings with him a different kind of politics to the Labor Party, clean and free of gimmicks."

"Instead of having the party open its ranks, Ehud Barak uses his legal advisor and his people in the census committee to trash the census committee and cries instead of finding new members," the source added.

Apparently, the manager of one taxi station asked drivers interested in joining the Labor party for their permission to sign forms in their names, said the source. But he added that "each of these men was included in the census out of his free will."

'There is no room for interpretation'

A copy of the complaint was also submitted to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz and State Prosecutor Eran Shendar.

The complaint says the suspected forms contain signatures that are "not identical" to the ones on checks.

"There is no room for interpretation. This is called forgery, and these are called criminal offenses," Palevsky said. "People were counted who didn't even know they were counted,"