Jerusalem city engineer: Stop Holyland project
On backdrop of extensive investigation into real estate project in capital, municipality's legal advisor and engineer call for construction freeze until facts about case are clarified
Senior municipality figures have begun working to freeze the Holyland real estate project which is the focus of extensive police investigations into bribery and corruption.
The Jerusalem Municipality's legal advisor, Attorney Yossi Havilio, and City Engineer Shlomo Eshkol on Tuesday submitted an expert opinion to the chairman of the local planning and construction committee. According to the document, the initiators of the project requested further benefits for the continuation of construction just two months ago.
The benefits they requested include the addition of housing units and divergence from the approved plans, because, they claimed, the construction area permitted them was insufficient for the completion of the project.
The two municipality figures called for the suspension of permits issued for three buildings not yet constructed. This effectively means the freezing of the project, and could be just a first operative step. They said that the permits were almost certainly issued while the issuing authority did not have access to all the relevant facts; therefore construction should be stopped until all such facts are clarified.
Deputy Jerusalem Mayor Yosef (Pepe) Alalo (Meretz) directed the attention of Havilio to the issue. "I am happy that the Holyland project is being meticulously checked now," he said. "This project was born in sin. Everything must be stopped until the issue has been clarified and only afterwards can conclusions be made regarding the continuation of the project."
"According to the requests, I see that this megalomaniac project continues to grow and the damage to Jerusalem's skyline continues," he added. "The city and the State must use all available means to reduce future damage."
Havilio and Eshkol submitted their opinion in response to requests from municipality figures to stop the project. Havilio has requested all relevant details from the planning authorities.
Meanwhile investigations continue. Jerusalem's former Deputy Mayor Yehoshua Polak was placed under house arrest Tuesday. Pollack, who has been intensively questioned since his arrest a week ago by the National Fraud Investigation Unit, is suspected of receiving bribes, being an intermediary, money laundering, fraud, breach of trust, and conspiring to commit a crime.
Also Tuesday, the investigation of Shula Zaken continued. Zaken is suspected of receiving bribes and acting as intermediary in the bribing of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in return for promoting the Holyland project.
