Judge in texting scandal to face disciplinary hearing, not criminal charges

Suspects in the Bezeq corruption probe were dealt a double blow Tuesday afternoon when the state ombudsman ruled there would be no criminal proceedings against a judge who was found to have coordinated rulings in the case before hearings were even held, and her replacement judge rejected their appeal to be released from custody amid claims of “obstruction of justice.”

Judge Eliezer Rivlin, the ombudsman handling complaints against judges, recommended, however, that Judge Ronit Poznansky-Katz face a disciplinary hearing over coordination with a prosecutor in the case.

According to a WhatsApp chat obtained by Channel 10 news on Sunday, Israel Securities Authority attorney Eran Shacham-Shavit told Poznansky-Katz that authorities intended to release some of the suspects in the probe, while holding others for a few more days.

“Try and act surprised,” he writes.

“I’m practicing my surprised face,” she responds before apparently agreeing to the request.

A full transcript of the messages released on Monday appeared to be less damning than initially reported — when only a snippet was available — showing that judge Poznansky-Katz and Shacham-Shavit were mainly discussing case logistics. But Rivlin said their correspondence was nonetheless “highly inappropriate.”

“The relationship between judge and the investigator, which began with logistical arrangements, deteriorated into improper dialogue,” he wrote in his ruling, noting that the two had corresponded over WhatApp for “a number of months.”

But while writing that Poznansky-Katz’s actions “damaged the public trust in the judicial system” by exposing herself to the possibility of being swayed before a trial, Rivlin said he did not believe she had engaged in collusion warranting a criminal probe.

The apparent coordination has been condemned by lawmakers across the political spectrum. Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked has said she would seek the judge’s dismissal if the ombudsman determined the collusion had taken place.

Earlier, the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court upheld a Monday ruling that Shaul Elovitch, the majority shareholder in the Bezeq telecommunications company, and Nir Hefetz, a former media adviser for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, would remain in custody until Sunday as police continue to interrogate them as part of the investigation dubbed Case 4000.

The case involves suspicions that Elovitch ordered the Walla news site, which he owns, to grant positive coverage to Netanyahu and his family, in exchange for the prime minister advancing regulations benefiting Elovitch.

On Monday, the court released to house arrest four suspects in the case — Elovitch’s wife, Iris; his son, Or; Bezeq CEO Stella Handler; and Bezeq’s deputy CEO for business development, Amikam Shorer — but acceded to a request from the prosecution to keep Elovitch and Hefetz in custody until Sunday.

Defense lawyers argued that text messages invalidated the state’s bid to hold Elovitch and Hefetz in custody, even constituting grounds to throw out the entire case.

“We cannot overstate the seriousness of the incident that took place on Sunday,” Yaron Kostelich, Hefetz’s lawyer, told the court, arguing that it legitimized the prosecution request to remand his client. “We have never seen anything like this is the State of Israel.”

Representing Elovitch, Jack Chen said the messages represented a “serious obstruction of justice.”

But Judge Yosef Tofef, who replaced Poznansky-Katz in the case after the correspondence was revealed, said there was “no grounds at this stage to uphold that claim.”

Israel Securities Authority prosecutor Yehudit Tirosh, who replaced Shacham-Shavit, described the incident as “very serious in my eyes, and in the eyes of the state, even after further messages were released,” but said it should not affect the case.

“To say that we are talking about an unlawful detention or that we are talking about damaging the justice process is an exaggeration, especially as the incident is still being clarified,” she said, noting that the defense failed to address the original reasons given to extend the suspects’ remand.

Tirosh said the state believed that Elovitch and Hefetz would try to obstruct the investigation.

“There is a real suspicion that if the suspects are released today, hugely important investigative work that needs to be carried out in the coming days will be thwarted,” she said.

Netanyahu is expected to be questioned in the case on Friday, possibly even under caution as a criminal suspect, a source familiar with the investigation told The Times of Israel earlier this week. If Hefetz and Elovitch were released before then, they could speak with the prime minister before he faces police investigators.

On Sunday, Channel 10 reported that Hefetz and Elovitch had coordinated their version of events and deleted incriminating messages that allegedly linked the favorable coverage Netanyahu received on the Walla news site to the policies that benefited Bezeq.

“We are talking about a real evidence-based suspicion of instances of obstructing the investigation by these two suspects,” Tirosh said in an apparent reference to allegations made in the report.

In a first official on-record statement implicating him in  Case 4000 corruption investigation, Tirosh said that in his role as communications minister, Netanyahu was at the center of “a very grave instance of giving and taking bribes.”

“I have no way of properly describing the benefit [he received]. We are talking about enlisting a leading news site to provide adulating coverage in return for regulatory benefits given by the Communications Ministry, the minister of communications and the director-general of the Communications Ministry,” she said.

Netanyahu served as communications minister from November 2014 to February 2017. During that time, Walla’s coverage notably changed to favor the Netanyahu family, and Bezeq was given permission, among other things, to buy the satellite cable provider Yes, overriding antitrust issues, and to renege on its commitment to lease out its infrastructure to telecom competitors so they could provide competing fixed line and internet services.

Suspended Communications Ministry director Shlomo Filber, who turned state witness last week and is expected to provide information possibly incriminating Netanyahu in the probe, had his remand extended by 15 days last Wednesday.

Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing in the case.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.