Israel Police today arrested Hadera Mayor Zvi Gendelman on suspicion of accepting a bribe from a contractor in the Hadera area and doing favors for him in return. Gendelman is also suspected of tax offenses, fraud, and breach of trust.
Gendelman's arrest at the current time is especially sensitive, given the upcoming elections scheduled to take place in four months. The police apparently have strong evidence against Gendelman; otherwise, there will be severe consequences for the rectitude and propriety of the election campaign in Hadera.
The Yesh Atid party said in response that it was suspending Gendelman from all of his positions in the party. "The procedure in Yesh Atid is unequivocal and clear: a public figure against whom a criminal investigation has begun must immediately suspend himself from all his positions and his party membership is terminated until the matter is clarified. We hope that the suspicions prove to be unfounded," the party stated.
Gendelman is the third Hadera mayor to be investigated on suspicion of corruption. Haim Avitan, the previous mayor, was also investigated on suspicion of accept a bribe fro contractors in the town. In July 2015, the Haifa District State Attorney's Office closed the case against Avitan on the grounds of insufficient evidence. Israel Sadan, the mayor who preceded Avitan, was convicted of bribery in November 2005 by the Haifa District Court and sentenced to eight months in prison and a seven-month suspended term and fined NIS 60,000. He served four and a half months at Maasiyahu Prison.
Gendelman today waived his right to bar the mention of his name in the press. His lawyer, Advocate Lior Epstein, sent the police a letter announcing the waiver. He stated, "In times like these, with unconventional communications networks, and given the fact that my client is a public servant and figure in whom the public is showing great interest, there is no point in fostering rumors. Part of my client's moral duty to the public is transparency in every respect."
The contractor suspected of bribing Gendelman is very well known in Hadera, and is a former deputy mayor of the city. This is not the first time he has been mixed up in criminal matters. In November 2016, he was convicted of a series of income tax and VAT offenses on the basis of his confession and sentenced to 34 months in prison and a nine-month suspended sentence. He also paid a NIS 500,000 fine. Before that, he was convicted of statutory rape.
In addition to the mayor and the contractor, the two main suspects, the police detained three other people for questioning: a municipal employee who worked closely with Gendelman, a driver working at the municipality, and one of Gendelman's associates.
"Globes" published an expose about Gendelman two weeks ago, including his relations with Oded Turgeman, another contractor working in Hadera who is building the Energy Park site in the city. Turgeman was not arrested or questioned today, but the investigation of Gendelman is continuing, and may develop in new directions.
In the "Globes" report, entitled, "The Strange Story of the Road Demolished at Night," "Globes" described how, with city support and funding, Turgeman paved a road leading from the coastal road to the Energy Park site above fuel lines belonging to the Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline Company (which runs the oil pipeline going from Eilat to Ashkelon), a road liable to endanger the public. According to Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline, the road paved by Turgeman was constructed without appropriate protection or proper authorization from it and other authorized agencies, and the company therefore demolished it.
"Globes" reported the close relations between the contractor and Gendelman. Among other things, it was revealed that the mayor had bought an apartment in a project built by Turgeman in Hadera, that Gendelman was promoting the contractor's projects in Hadera, and that the contractor was making donations to sports teams in the city that were a pet project of Gendelman.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 4, 2018
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