State Attorney's Office will not charge Deri with bribery offense

Aryeh Deri purchased a family vacation home in the town of Safsufa in the Galilee, worth some NIS 4 million and registered in the name of a close family member.

AUGUST 6, 2018 10:06

Updated: AUGUST 6, 2018 11:09

Shas party leader Arye Deri (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST) — Shas party leader Arye Deri

(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)

The national corruption investigation unit in the Israeli Police's Lahav 433 and the Tax Authority are close to completing their investigation against Interior Minister Aryeh Deri. Immediately thereafter they will submit their findings and recommendations to the State Attorney's Office, sources familiar with the details of the investigation told The Jerusalem Post's sister publication Maariv.

The recommendations that will be submitted to the State Attorney's Office will indicate that there is a foundation for an indictment for tax fraud and breach of trust offenses against Deri, the sources said. However, the bribery charge against the minister is unlikely to be included. It should be noted that the Tax Authority is conducting the bulk of the investigation. Certain matters that arose during the course of the Tax Authority investigation were transferred to the police, and the two bodies have been conducting a joint investigation in parallel since that time.

Deri is being investigated by the Tax Authority and the police in several cases, including a real estate deal he ostensibly conducted within his family, when he sold a residential building to his brother free of charge, as well as the purchase of the family vacation home in the town of Safsufa in the Galilee, which is worth about NIS 4 million and is registered in the name of a close family member. Deri is also accused of receiving money and a loan from a businessman with whom he had ties from before he entered public life.

Deri's wife's non-profit organizations are also being investigated. Allegedly, affluent businessmen close to the minister deposited large sums of money into the organizations. After Deri has been interrogated ten times by Lahav 433, and denied all the accusations against him, it seems that the police failed to gather sufficient evidence to bring an indictment in the case.

Deri is represented by Yaron Lipshes of Caspi & Co., and his wife Yaffa Deri is represented by attorneys Tal Shapira and Ariel Kafri.

Yvette J. Deane translated this article.