Suspect deputy minister quits politics, changes her mind

The woman at the center of the Yisrael Beytenu corruption scandal, Deputy Interior Minister Faina Kirshenbaum, announced her intention to leave politics Friday before changing her mind and deciding to stay, reportedly at the request of party leader Avigdor Liberman.

According to Channel 2 News, Kirshenbaum notified Liberman of her decision not to vie for a spot on the party roster in the coming election, citing pressure from family and friends. Kirshenbaum, who also heads the party’s campaign committee, asked to be relieved of those duties as well. But when Liberman rejected the resignation and asked her to reconsider, Kirshenbaum acquiesced.

One hundred and three people have been questioned to date in the scandal, which allegedly involves widespread corruption involving several parties, numerous politicians and various government hierarchies. Thirty-two people have been arrested. The scandal revolves around no fewer than 16 major cases, Channel 2 reported on Friday, claiming that Kirshenbaum was linked to nine or ten of them.

Channel 10 said allegations involving the Orthodox-nationalist Jewish Home party were also now set to be investigated.

Also on Friday, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch, a member of Yisrael Beytenu, said he had complete faith in police and prosecutors investigating the corruption case, seemingly breaking ranks with Liberman who has accused law enforcement officials of carrying out a “personal vendetta” against him.

“I give full backing to the law enforcement system, to the police and the state prosecution — I give backing to the entire system to carry out its work,” Aharonovitch said. “Whoever faltered or acted against the law will stand trial in the end, and whoever was okay will be free.”

Attorney General Yehudah Weinstein on Wednesday berated Kirshenbaum for going to work in her ministry while the probe is ongoing.

In a letter, Weinstein warned Kirshenbaum could be obstructing the investigation through her presence at the ministry and demanded that she refrain from going into work for 30 days.

“The evidence gives rise to the suspicion that you committed offenses connected to public resources and public money while fulfilling your public duty,” Weinstein wrote. “When we are dealing with suspicions of serious offenses that were made in connection with your public service, your presence at the Interior Ministry threatens to significantly impair public confidence and the perception of integrity in its eyes.”

In a response, Kirshenbaum denied that she had been going into work as usual, the Hebrew-language Ynet website reported.

“Contrary to the information brought before you, since the investigation became public and was publicized in the media, I have not been to the Interior Ministry at all, and furthermore, I have not carried out my duties as the deputy interior minister,” she said.

News of the corruption, fraud and bribery investigation broke last week with the arrest of dozens of public officials. Investigators suspect cash was illicitly funneled to non-government organizations and various other groups. In return, the organizations allegedly made nepotistic appointments, as well as circulating some of the money back to public officials in the form of cash payoffs and benefits.

Many of the suspects in the affair are high-level members of Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu party, including Kirshenbaum, who is a key suspect in the case along with her daughter Ranit.

In a related development on Wednesday, the police anti-corruption unit Lahav 433 raided offices of the World Zionist Federation’s Settlement Division that are linked to Yisrael Beytenu and seized documents. The Settlement Division implements the government’s policies for settlements in the West Bank and housing developments in the Negev and in the north.

Stuart Winer contributed to this report.