Perach Lerner, a former senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, confesses to fraud and breach of trust as part of a deal that will see prosecutors closing a criminal probe against her.
She will, however, face disciplinary proceedings within the civil service during which she will have to admit a string of disciplinary offenses connected to using her position to advance the interests of several clients connected to her husband‘s public relations company.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flanked by former chief of staff Ari Harow (left) and former parliamentary adviser Perach Lerner as he arrives at a Likud faction meeting in the Israeli parliament, November 24, 2014. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
Lerner — according to a statement from the Justice Ministry — will have to resign from the civil service and stay away from civil service jobs 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.
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