Israeli interior minister opposition leader probed for graft
Date
3/30/2016 11:06:58 PM
(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Isaac Herzog. Photo: Reuters
Jerusalem: Israeli authorities are investigating Interior Minister Aryeh Deri and opposition leader Isaac Herzog for alleged corruption the lawmakers said on Wednesday.
Deri who has already served prison time for graft confirmed on his Twitter account that he was under investigation saying he had requested that a gag order on the publication of his name be lifted and that he was ready to "respond to all questions".
"For the moment the government's judicial council hasn't ordered enquiries to be opened" he said in a statement issued later.
News of the investigation into an unnamed senior politician first emerged late Tuesday in a report by Channel 2 television. A second unidentified senior politician was also said to be under investigation.
Herzog leader of the centre-left Zionist Union alliance refuted the allegations denouncing on Twitter what he called "ridiculous slander".
Local media reported that Herzog was being probed over campaign expenses during his Labor party's elections in 2013.
Deri head of Sephardi ultra-Orthodox party Shas became interior minister in January after the resignation of Silvan Shalom following allegations of sexual harassment.
Shas is vital to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rightwing governing coalition which holds a one-seat majority in parliament.
Deri who had served as interior minister from 1988 to 1993 was sentenced to three years in prison in 2000 for taking $155000 in bribes though his sentence was reduced by a third for good behaviour.
Deri resigned as economy minister in November after refusing to overrule anti-trust authorities' objections to a major natural gas deal being pushed by Netanyahu.
His resignation allowed Netanyahu to take over the economy minister post himself and move ahead on the gas deal.
In January critics of his appointment as interior minister said the post should not be granted to someone who had been convicted for corruption. Others argued that Deri had paid his debt to society.
The interior ministry notably oversees local government and efforts to prevent illegal immigration. The police fall under a separate ministry.
Herzog who took over as head of the Labor party in November 2013 was investigated for an alleged breach of party funding rules in 2001 but the case was closed due to a lack of evidence.
AFP