Former MK and minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer to be indicted
Attorney General Weinstein announced the indictment Tuesday, following a hearing. Ben Eliezer is accused of charges that include bribery, tax evasion, and fraud.
Ben-Eliezer was an MK Between the years 2007-2014, and was also a minister during parts of that period. He is suspected of demanding, and receiving, money from different business people. He allegedly used this money to purchase real estate assets. Ben-Eliezer also allegedly exchanged hundreds of thousands of dollars without reporting it to authorities while actively attempting to hide the process.
Ben-Eliezer is also accused of giving the Knesset speaker false financial statements, not reporting accumulated assets, and of not reporting income to tax authorities and actively hiding taxable income from them.
Ben-Eliezer allegedly contacted businessman Avraham Nanikashvili, asking for and getting $400,000 in return for favors while he was Minister of Industry, Trade & Labor, which benefitted Nanikashvili and his business partner, Jacky Ben-Zaken.
Ben-Eliezer is suspected of peddling his influence to get Nanikashvili's associate appointed vice chairman of the Russia-Israel Business Forum. He also allegedly helped oil company Shemen Industries, owned by Nanikashvili and Ben-Zaken, get a drilling permit, while using his influence as the minister in charge of the Petroleum Council. He also signed an affidavit in Nanikashvili's favor, for which he is accused of fraud and breach of trust.
Ben-Eliezer is further suspected of contacting the Egyptian consul for businessman Roy Mutzafi several times, so that Mutzafi's company would get worker permits there. In 2011, Mutzafi allegedly transferred NIS 260,000 for the purchase of a lot in Ness Ziona, owned by Ben-Eliezer's wife and son.
In addition, Ben-Eliezer allegedly contacted Mutzafi in 2012 and asked him for NIS 500,000 to finance the purchase of a house in Jaffa, which Mutzafi later allegedly gave.
Avraham Nanikashvili's attorneys, Nati Simhoni and Yoav Sananes, said: "We received the prosecution's decision to indict our client with great sadness. We believe that a proper look at all of the evidence, as we said during the hearing, should have brought about the educated decision to close the case. The public should know, any claim attributing an unlawful act to Mr. Nanikashvili – including bribery – is based on nothing and does not conform to the truth. We fully believe that after things will be cleared in up during legal proceedings, Mr. Nanikashvili's innocence will be shown and he will be acquitted of all charges."
