Court accepts plea bargain for repatriated judge
Dan Cohen, former magistrate and head of Israel Electric Corp., was extradited from Peru in March to face bribery charges
The Tel Aviv District Court on Thursday accepted a plea bargain for an ex-judge accused of fraud who had spent much of the last decade on the lam in South America.
Dan Cohen, who also served as a director of the Israel Electric Corporation, was indicted in absentia for fraud, breach of trust and obstruction of justice in 2009. Under the deal, he will receive five and a half years in prison, rather than the six years that had been expected.
According to the original indictment, Cohen took millions of shekels in bribes from multinational firms such as Siemens while directing the Israel Electric Corporation.
Cohen fled Israel for Peru in 2005 after learning of the suspicions against him. In March, Cohen was arrested by Peruvian authorities in Lima and sent to Israel, despite the fact that Israel and Peru do not have an extradition agreement.
Under the plea bargain the prosecutor’s office will also confiscate NIS 4 million ($1.1 million) of Cohen’s assets in addition to the NIS 6 million ($1.65 million) fine that he will pay, Haaretz reported.
On Thursday morning the court okayed the plea bargain, but has yet to deliver the final sentence.
Cohen’s attorney, Eitan Maoz, called the deal the “end of lengthy negotiations that are very sensitive…it includes a significant correction to the original indictment that was attributed to Cohen.” Maoz further said that plea bargain was “reasonable and fair to both sides.”
Cohen was appointed to serve on the Israel Electric Corporation’s board of directors in 1991 by then-energy and infrastructure minister Yuval Ne’eman of the Tehiya party. Previously, he had served as a judge in the Beersheba District Court.
Yifa Yaakov contributed to this report.
