Judge Varda Alshech announces early retirement

Tel Aviv District Court Judge Varda Alshech will retire in November 2013. In a letter to Supreme Court President Judge Asher Grunis and Minister of Justice Tzipi Livni, Alshech said that she is bringing forward her scheduled retirement from August 2014. The decision ends the rumors about her retirement in the wake of the "amended protocols" scandal.

In August 2012, then-Minister of Justice Yaakov Neeman settled the proceedings against Judge Alshech by the Israel Bar Association over changes she made in court protocols. Under the settlement Alshech withdrew her disciplinary complaint against Adv. Argaz and the Bar Association cancelled the proceedings against her. Neeman's statement served as a kind of reciprocal apology.

Neeman's settlement followed Grunis's decision not to discipline Judge Alshech, despite ombudsman for public complaints about judges Eliezer Goldberg's decision to fully uphold the complaint against Alshech in the case. Grunis was lambasted for his decision, and rumors swirled that he and Alshech cut a secret deal for her early retirement. Although the rumors were denied, there seems to have been some truth to them.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 13, 2013