-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">
</A> -Cui Bono?-
from:
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Click Here: <A HREF="http://www.aci.net/kalliste/">The Home Page of J. Orlin
Grabbe</A>
-----
Political Money
Illegal Fund-Raising in Israel
Barak's faction implicated.
JERUSALEM - The Israeli state comptroller implicated Prime Minister Ehud
Barak's One Israel/Labor faction and some of his closest associates Thursday
in what he called a systematic and massive illegal fund-raising scheme that
funneled more than $2 million into the premier's successful campaign for
office last spring.
Although the comptroller stressed that there is no evidence so far that Mr.
Barak himself had been involved, he said the scale of illegal fund-raising on
behalf of Mr. Barak and his One Israel/Labor faction should have flashed a
''red light'' for the Israeli leader.
Immediately after the controller's report was issued, the Israeli attorney
general, Elyakim Rubinstein, ordered a police investigation of the Barak
campaign's fund-raising practices as well as those of the main opposition
Likud bloc and three other smaller parties. He did not rule out that Mr.
Barak himself could be questioned by the police.
The damning report by the comptroller, Eliezer Goldberg, a retired Supreme
Court justice, ignited a partisan frenzy in Israel and saddled Mr. Barak with
a major political scandal at a critical juncture of the peace process with
both Syrians and Palestinians. It could conceivably lead to criminal charges
against the prime minister's close aides and stain what until now has been
Mr. Barak's own reputation for probity.
The comptroller's report follows months of allegations, particularly from the
rightist Likud, that Mr. Barak's campaign had benefited from vast infusions
of ''soft'' money that dodged campaign finance laws. The report painted a
portrait of unseemly wheeling and dealing and illicit campaign fund-raising
across the political spectrum. It said 12 of the 15 parties elected to the
Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, had skirted campaign finance laws.
''It was a wide-ranging system in which an illegal funding channel was used
in a broad way,'' Mr. Goldberg said at a news conference broadcast live on
Israeli television. ''It's very worrisome. It grossly tramples the law.''
The Barak campaign's violations by far outstripped those of other parties,
the comptroller said. He imposed a fine of about $3.4 million on the One
Israel/Labor faction - a staggering sum by the standards of Israeli political
parties.
Specifically, Mr. Goldberg charged that some of Mr. Barak's closest aides had
methodically established fraudulent nonprofit organizations through which
large Israeli and foreign donations were used to benefit his campaign. About
$2.7 million was spent in this fashion, according to the report.
''The prime minister should have known, a red light should have gone off for
him,'' he said.
Mr. Barak, looking grave and uncharacteristically nervous, appeared before
journalists in his office shortly after the release of the comptroller's
report and said he would cooperate with the police investigation.
In a lengthy televised statement, he called it ''a difficult report'' and
said his party would appeal the fine to the Supreme Court.
But he insisted that as a candidate for prime minister, he had been much too
busy campaigning to supervise or involve himself in the details of
fund-raising and was unaware of the activities of apparently fraudulent
nonprofit organizations established on his behalf.
He dismissed the opposition's contention that the illegal fund-raising, which
he said represented just 7 percent of his party's $21 million budget, had
been instrumental in his sweeping victory over former Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu.
''I was not kept up to date on the details of the nonprofit organizations,''
he said. ''I wasn't specifically involved in any of these issues. I'm sorry
to say but I'm sure that no ''red light'' could have gone on for me.''
Apparently distancing himself from some of his closest associates, he said he
had entrusted matters of campaign finance to a few aides, ''reliable people
who I depend on and trust.'' They included Yaacov Herzog, an attorney who is
now Mr. Barak's cabinet secretary, and Tal Zilberstein, his campaign manager
who now runs the Tel Aviv office of the American Democratic campaign
consultants Stanley Greenberg, James Carville and Bob Shrum.
''I told my people to operate only according to the law and to give the law a
wide berth and not even go close to the edge,'' he said. ''In these
conditions it's not reasonable to expect from a candidate for prime minister,
whose main purpose is to win the elections, to make sure that his orders are
being carried out in every part of this large, almost uncontrollable
organization.''
The thrust of Mr. Barak's defense - that he was too busy to keep track of
fund-raising details - struck a discordant note with many analysts, and not
only his political opponents. Throughout his glittering career, he has been
known for his command of details. During the campaign, his aides regaled
journalists with stories of Mr. Barak's ability to marshal huge amounts of
information.
''Nothing escapes his eye,'' said Danny Naveh of the opposition Likud bloc.
''But all of a sudden, he didn't know, he didn't hear.''
''He's just trying to shake off responsibility,'' Mr. Naveh added.
Israel is rarely free of political scandal but the current array of
investigations, allegations and possible criminal charges is extraordinary.
In addition to Mr. Barak 's problems, the Israeli president, Ezer Weizman, is
under criminal investigation for hundreds of thousands of dollars he is
reported to have accepted from a friend and former business associate. Also,
Mr. Netanyahu is being investigated on bribery charges.
The Barak campaign's problems are rooted in an ambiguity in Israeli law. The
campaign finance law, written in 1973 to cover political parties, was not
updated when Israel began electing its prime minister separately from his
party in 1996. Taking advantage of the resulting loophole, organizations
affiliated with Likud spent heavily on Mr. Netanyahu's election in 1996.
Although the comptroller's office indicated at the time that Likud's strategy
had been an end run of the law, the 1973 legislation governing campaign
finance was not amended by the Knesset. That, apparently, left Mr. Barak's
fund-raisers to conclude that the laws applying to parties do not cover the
candidate for prime minister himself.
International Herald Tribune, January 28, 2000
-----
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Om, Shalom, Salaam.
Em Hotep, Peace Be,
All My Relations.
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Amen.
Roads End
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