Photo: Yaron Brener
צילום: ירון ברנר
'Bennett's campaign spending illegal'
State Comptroller claims Bayit Yehudi chairman used funds riased for his primary campaign to promote party, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked.
Bayit Yehudi Chairman Naftali Bennett broke the law by misusing funds raised for his last primary campaign, according to a letter sent to Bennett from the State Comptroller which was first revealed in a Channel 10 report on Monday.
According to the Comptroller's letter, the party leader and current education minister used the NIS 1.2 million raised for his campaign to promote other politicians in his party and to pay his campaign strategist, Moshe Klughaft.
Photo: Yaron Brener (צילום: ירון ברנר )
Legally, primary candidates are restricted to spending raised funds on their private campaign alone.
The comptroller also said that Bennett partly used his funds for party advertisement videos and promotion of current Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked.
According to the legal process, leftover campagin can be kept by candidates for as long as three years to be used in future campaign. At the end of three years, the money can be given to the candidate's party or returned to those who donated.
Bennett rejected the Comptroller's accusations, saying, "The primaries campaign was managed according to the law and everything was given to the State Comptroller according to recognized procedure."
During the primaries last January, Bennett faced off against a relatively unknown politician named Shimon Or, a father of eight from Jerusalem. Or never pushed for donations and led a minimalistic campaign during which he paid NIS 10,000 to the party and NIS 1,800 for two mailers to voters.
Or told Ynet's sister publication Calcalist at the time that the intention was to send the message that Bayit Yehudi was not "Likud B." Some were taken by surprise when Or won 11% of the vote despite his low profile.
