The Ministry of Interior's Population and Immigration Authority will indict Aviva Weinstein, the wife of Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein, for illegally hiring a foreign worker as a cleaner at their home in 2008-09. Deputy State Prosecutor Shuki Lemberger agreed with the decision by the ministry's prosecutions department to indict.
Yehuda Weinstein will not be charged in the case, after his wife assumed full responsibility for employing the foreign worker. The indictment will be filed with the labor court.
The decision to indict Aviva Weinstein, rather than impose only an administrative fine, is part of the Population and Immigration Authority's policy in such cases. Legal sources, however, are surprised why the prosecutor wants to prove the case in court, given that the foreign worker, who gave evidence, is no longer in the country and will not testify, and that Aviva Weinstein admitted under questioning that she employed him. She initially said that she checked that he had a work permit, but did not realize that it was to provide nursing care, not housework, and that it expired at the end of 2008, during his employment with her.
The Indian foreign worker was legally resident in Israel and had a visa a work permit. It was discovered two years ago that the Weinstein's employed him to clean their house in Herzliya Pituah, before Yehuda Weinstein was appointed attorney general in February 2010.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 24, 2013
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