Shimon Peres suspected of taking illegal gifts
And money is one of them. From Israel National News:
State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss has submitted evidence to the Attorney General that Shimon Peres accepted illegal campaign contributions. Peres in response: "Everything was legal."And Peres has been asking for it for some time now. Here's more from Eitan on the case, from a radio interview he gave.
The State Comptroller's Office acknowledges that over the past several months, it has been investigating the contributions received from abroad by MK Shimon Peres for his recent primaries bid for Labor Party leadership against Amir Peretz. The contributions in question total $320,000, reportedly from the billionaires Chaim Saban, Bruce Rappaport, and Daniel Abrams.
The Comptroller's Office notes that laws that Peres may have broken include the Public Service law, the Campaign Contributions Law, and others.
Peres and his representatives were given early notice of the ongoing investigation, and were also told that the material would be forwarded to Attorney General Mazuz.
Peres said in response that the three contributions were given him prior to the period of the elections. The Comptroller's Office stated that this point is irrelevant. Peres further maintains that the contributions were approved by the Labor Party.
The anchor of official Israel Radio's main newsmagazine, Anat Davidoff, spoke with Israel Radio's legal commentator Moshe Negbi, and began by saying that the news on Peres "is not surprising, because of this problematic law that doesn't allow a candidate for party head or Prime Minister to collect [money] or to run things as he- because there is some type of distortion in the law."
Negbi explained that the law is designed to ensure that politicians are not bought by outside interests with business affairs in Israel.
MK Michael Eitan (Likud) praised the State Comptroller for his work in uncovering political corruption. When interviewer Davidoff protested that Lindenstrauss need not run to the press with every investigation, Eitan said, "It's great that he does that! That's the only way to get things done, and that's the only way to end this plague of corruption."
