Stuart Winer is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
Faina Kirschenbaum, a former deputy minister for the Yisrael Beytenu party, has been convicted on bribery charges for arranging for various bodies to receive government funding in return for kickbacks and payoffs.
The Tel Aviv District Court finds Kirschenbaum guilty of bribery, tax offenses, money laundering, fraud and breach of trust.
Former deputy minister Faina Kirschenbaum, right, and David Godovsky, former head of the Yisrael Beytenu headquarters, attend a court hearing at the Tel Aviv District Court, March 19, 2018. (Flash90)
Kirschenbaum is a central figure in a far-reaching corruption investigation into the Yisrael Beytenu party. She was elected to the Knesset in 2009 and served as deputy interior minister from 2013 to 2015.
Kirshenbaum took bribes in a “systematic, cunning and sophisticated” manner over six years from eight separate, unconnected sources, Judge Yaron Levy says.
She “skillfully developed an endless variety of ways and excuses to circumvent the rules of proper administration and use public money as if it were her own,” he adds.
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Thursday, March 25, 2021
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