Heading to court: Attorney General Menachem Mazuz on Tuesday announced that he has decided to indict Kadima Knesset MemberTzachi Hanegbi on suspicion of making political appointments during his term as environtment minister.
"The time of corruption in the public service is over. I have to dry the ponds before the mosquitoes multiply," Mazuz told his associates.
Following the decision, the former minister said he informed Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik of his willingness to forego his parliamentary immunity.
"I hope the legal procedure begins quickly, after a five-year process," Hanegbi said. "I hope there will be no delays so there can be a full acquittal at court."
Hanegbi is facing one of the most series indictments ever served against an Israeli politician. The indictment includes charges of fraud, breach of trust, elections bribe, false testimony and false oath.
According to the indictment, "during his tenure at the Environment Ministry the accused acted, in a planned and methodical manner…to bring about the appointments of (Likud) Central Committee members and their close associates to as many posts and jobs as possible in the Environment Ministry and bodies related to it, while undermining the general public's ability to compete for those posts, and at times without making sure the appointees have the skills needed and are suitable for the post…this activity was done through the exploitation of public resources in favor of political and personal interests that contradict the public good."
'Only sin was proposing candidates for various jobs'
Hanegbi, who currently serves as the Knesset's Defense and Foreign Affair's Committee Chairman, decided to refrain from taking advantage of potential maneuvers to keep his parliamentary immunity in face of the serious charges.
Hanegbi stressed he believes the affair will end with an acquittal. His basic argument is that Likud members should not have been automatically disqualified just because of their Likud membership, and therefore he saw no wrong in such candidates applying for jobs as long as they were hired in according with common procedures.
"It's clear, and this matter has been emphasized by Hanegbi all along the way, that acceptance to work is conditioned on suitable skills of each and every candidate," Hanegbi's office said in a statement. "The indictment doesn’t show that the overwhelming majority of candidates presented by Hanegbi were rejected by bureaucratic officials and the overwhelming majority of employees appointed during his time were completely unrelated to him and were not proposed by him."
"Hanegbi's only sin was proposing candidates for various jobs," the statement read. "In fact, Hanegbi did not appoint anyone, but rather, merely presented candidates as did ministers of all parties at all ministries for many years."
Ilan Marciano contributed to the report
First published: 12:34, 08.15.6