Minister demands AG hand over Netanyahu pardon materials, accuses her of unnecessary delays to process

Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu demands that Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara provide his office with all relevant information regarding the Justice Ministry Pardons Department’s opinion on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request for a pardon in his corruption trial.

Eliyahu’s demand comes after Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s decision yesterday to delegate the authorities he has within the pardon process to Eliyahu, due to Levin’s potential conflict of interest. This possibility arises from his longtime close association with Netanyahu, the fact that Levin testified in Netanyahu’s trial, and that he is a senior member of the prime minister’s Likud party.

The justice minister does not have influence over the position drawn up by the Pardons Department, but the department is nevertheless under his authority and the minister is entitled to receive and review the material produced by the department for the pardon request, and is also the official who transmits the legal position paper produced by the department for the pardon request to the president’s office.

Eliyahu complains in his letter that Baharav-Miara has delayed passing him the legal position paper drafted by the Pardons Department, although given that Levin only delegated his authorities to the heritage minister yesterday, the nature of the grievance is not immediately clear. Eliyahu’s office does not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“The government’s mandate and the public mandate given to me require me to examine the issue seriously and professionally and without further delay,” Eliyahu tells Baharav-Miara, and says that the delays he accuses her of “cast a heavy shadow on the position of officials in the Attorney General’s Office in the issue under discussion.”

Baharav-Miara’s office declines to comment on Eliyahu’s allegations.