Deal for senior Netanyahu adviser who used job to help husband
Perach Lerner admits fraud and breach of trust, is slapped with disciplinary charges instead of criminal prosecution
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSue Surkes is The Times of Israel's environment reporter
A senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday admitted to fraud and breach of trust as part of a deal that will see prosecutors closing a criminal probe against her.
Perach Lerner will, however, face disciplinary proceedings within the civil service during, and will have to admit a string of disciplinary offenses arising from using her position to advance the interests of several clients connected to her husband Avi Lerner‘s public relations company.
Described last year as one of the “most powerful women in Likud” by the financial daily The Marker, Lerner , according to a statement from the Justice Ministry, will have to resign from the civil service for five years, avoid all public positions for a year and pay a fine of NIS 20,000 ($5,400).
Should she break the conditions of the deal, reached by lawyers from both sides, she will be charged and tried in a criminal court.
יועצת רה"מ, פרח לרנר, שנחשדה בעבירות של קבלת דבר במרמה ומרמה והפרת אמונים, לא תועמד לדין >> https://t.co/XJbJ9elKSF pic.twitter.com/KMYf07VYtQ
— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) February 23, 2017
According to the Justice Ministry, Lerner advised Netanyahu on legislation and Knesset issues from 2009 to 2015 and was a “central and influential” figure in the Prime Minister‘s Office in general, whose opinions carried “significant weight.”
Her husband’s company, Lernercom, works in political consultancy, specializing in the national religious community.
Lerner admitted that several of her husband’s clients employed him in the knowledge that she worked in the Prime Minister‘s Office and was close to Netanyahu, believing she represented “added value” and would help them. Lerner cited two cases in which her husband‘s clients used her to grease wheels and cut corners.
Upon starting to work in the Prime Minister’s Office, Lerner signed a statement saying she had no conflict of interest and that she would report any change in that situation, according to the Justice Ministry.
But not only did she not report the connection to her husband‘s business clients; when suspicions arose and the legal adviser to the Prime Minister’s Office asked several times for a list of her husband’s clients, she delayed for three months until she was confronted with some of the clients and admitted the conflict of interest.
A decision has not yet been made regarding steps against Lerner’s husband.
The Times of Israel Community.