Deputy minister in graft case told off for going to work

Attorney General Yehudah Weinstein on Wednesday berated Deputy Interior Minister Faina Kirshenbaum, who is one of the prime suspects in a wide-ranging corruption investigation, for going to work in her ministry while the probe is ongoing.

In a letter, Weinstein warned Kirshenbaum could be obstructing the investigation through her presence at the ministry and demanded that she refrain from going into work for 30 days.

“The evidence gives rise to the suspicion that you committed offenses connected to public resources and public money while fulfilling your public duty,” Weinstein wrote. “When we are dealing with suspicions of serious offenses that were made in connection with your public service, your presence at the Interior Ministry threatens to significantly impair public confidence and the perception of integrity in its eyes.”

In a response, Kirshenbaum denied that she had been going into work as usual, the Hebrew-language Ynet website reported.

“Contrary to the information brought before you, since the investigation became public and was publicized in the media, I have not been to the Interior Ministry at all, and furthermore, I have not carried out my duties as the deputy interior minister,” she said.

News of the corruption, fraud and bribery investigation broke last week with the arrest of dozens of public officials. Investigators suspect cash was illicitly funneled to non-government organizations and various other groups. In return, the organizations allegedly made nepotistic appointments, as well as circulating some of the money back to public officials in the form of cash payoffs and benefits.

Many of the suspects in the affair are high-level members of Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu party, including Kirshenbaum, who is a key suspect in the case along with her daughter Ranit.

In a related development on Wednesday, the police anti-corruption unit Lahav 433 raided offices of the World Zionist Federation’s Settlement Division that are linked to Yisrael Beytenu and seized documents. The Settlement Division implements the government’s policies for settlements in the West Bank and housing developments in the Negev and in the north.