Lindenstrauss. Looking into claims
צילום: גיל יוחנן
Comptroller examining whether Mofaz received illicit donations
Retired Justice Micha Lindenstrauss looking into claims that some donors gave transportation minister's campaign more than NIS 40,000 permitted by law before Kadima primaries
State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss is looking into alleged irregularities in the donations received by Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz before the Kadima primary elections.
According to the law, one donor can contribute up to NIS 40,000 (about $11,395) to one candidate, while each candidate is allowed to receive up to NIS 2 million ($569,788) in total. The list handed over to Lindenstrauss by Mofaz's campaign points to irregular donations.
According to the list, three American citizens gave Mofaz's campaign $99,970, $100,000 and $50,000. The three donations were in October 2006. In total, Mofaz received NIS 2 million between October 2006 and September 2008.
The comptroller's associates told Ynet they were aware of the issue and that it would be looked into in the coming weeks.
Newly elected Kadima Chairwoman Tzipi Livni and candidates Avi Dichter and Meir Sheetrit also submitted their list of donors to the state comptroller. Lindestrauss is expected to examine the donations in the coming weeks and rule whether any flaws were made in the acceptance of the funds by the candidates.
It appears that the three other candidates received permitted sums. The highest amount of money Livni got was NIS 40,000. She received funds from more than 110 donors, including businessmen Noam Lanir, Charles Bronfman and Dov Lautman. In total, the new Kadima leader also received NIS 2 million.
The two other candidates got much lower sums. Internal Security Minister Dichter received a total of NIS 760,000 ($215,507) from 48 people, while Interior Minister Sheetrit got a total of NIS 660,000 ($187,151) from 32 people.
