Minister Katz, not charged
Photo: Hillel Posek
Corruption suspected in plant, poultry councils
Minister Yisrael Katz is spared an indictment, but officials he appointed during his tenure as agriculture minister are charged with theft, fraud, breach of trust, after appointing Likud members to senior posts without required tenders
The Ministry of Agriculture is a fertile ground for corruption cases. The most recent were revealed earlier this week in the state comptroller's report, in which Minister Shalom Simhon was found to have helped himself and his family to receive significant benefits.
The Central District Prosecution filed an indictment on Thursday against Michael Eilon, who served as former Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz's senior advisor. Eilon was charged with theft, fraud, breach of trust, forgery and falsifying corporate records. His assistant, Miri Azoulay and former Poultry Council Director Mordechai Halperin were also charged.
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Former Minister Katz was not charged, after former Attorney General Menachem Mazuz decided last September to close the investigation against him.
According to the indictment, during his tenure as director of the Plants Production and Marketing Board, Eilon gave jobs to 14 members of the Likud Center. He appointed attorney David Shomron, one of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's associates, as the board's legal adviser with the help of Minister Katz, without issuing the a proper tender as is required.
Initially, the adviser received a monthly fee of $10,000. This fee was later increased to $18,000 a month. When the state comptroller decided to examine the matter of Shomron's appointment, Eilon's assistant, Miri Azoulay, forged a protocol of a fake meeting in the matter.
Eilon was also charged with appointing advertising agent Sheaya Segal, via Minister Katz, to produce the Plant Board's newspaper, again without a tender. In this case as well, Azoulay allegedly forged protocols showing that Segal was elected for the post following a board meeting in the matter.
In another matter, Likud Center member David Kumran was appointed as the board's insurance counselor, again with the help of Minister Katz.
Eilon was also charged with using the board's credit card to publish personal adds in the media. He also allegedly leased a car under the name of one of the board's clerks and, when he got into an accident with the vehicle, presented it as if one of the board's employees crashed the car.
The indictment, which was filed by Attorney Idit Barnea and Eliana Danieli of the Central District Prosecution, includes theft charges, seven charges of fraud and breach of trust, three counts of forgery, three counts of making use of a forged document, three charges of falsifying corporate documents, two counts of fraudulently obtaining benefits, and a charge of driving without license or insurance.
Mordechai Halperin, who served as director of the Poultry Council, was charged with fraud and breach of trust. He is also accused of abusing his position and his status in the council by recruiting council employees to work on a political survey, which was not related to their job.
Halperin is also accused of installing a security system in his home at the council's expense: "The defendant preferred his own personal interest over the good of the supervision authority and the Poultry Council. The defendant purchased equipment, with the council's funding, while hiding from the Poultry Council the fact that the equipment was installed in his home and was meant for his personal needs."
