Senior Likud MK: Indictment of welfare minister sets ‘dangerous precedent’

Senior Likud MK David Bitan says the pending indictment against his fellow party stalwart Haim Katz, which forced Katz to resign from the position of welfare minister last week, “sets a dangerous” precedent in prosecuting lawmakers for legislative activity.

“A terrible injustice has been done to Haim Katz,” Bitan tells Kan Radio in response to reports that he was seeking to be appointed minister in Katz’s stead.

“I have no intention of replacing him,” he insists.

Katz resigned from the government on Friday after Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced earlier in the week that he plans to indict him on fraud and breach of trust charges for allegedly advancing legislation meant to benefit a financial consultant to major Israeli firms who was also a close friend and financial adviser to Katz himself.

The attorney general informed Katz he would have to resign over the pending indictment, a practice established in the 1990s with the court-upheld resignations of indicted cabinet members Aryeh Deri and Raphael Pinhasi.

Bitan, whom police have recommended be indicted on separate multiple corruption charges including bribery, fraud and money laundering, says that the indictment against Katz “sets a very dangerous precedent because it deals with parliamentary activity and legislation. So I think his trial will be swift and he will eventually be acquitted.”

Mandelblit has also announced that he plans to bring charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, pending a hearing.

— Raoul Wootliff