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Hadera mayor accused of fraud and breach of trust, Mandelblit asked to be suspended

The prosecution has filed an indictment against Zvika Gandelman for corruption offenses he allegedly committed after being elected to the position between 2018-2013.

Mandelblit stated that his continued tenure after the indictment was filed could result in "serious damage to public trust and the values ​​of moral purity and the rule of law."

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• Zvika Gandelman

• Hadera

• Fraud and breach of trust

• corruption

Yoav Itiel

Tuesday, 26 October 2021, 14:55 Updated: 16:38

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The Tax and Economics Prosecutor's Office filed an indictment today (Tuesday) in the Haifa Magistrate's Court against the Mayor of Hadera, Zvika Gandelman, for fraud and breach of trust, receiving anything fraudulently, obstruction of justice and computer offenses. Following the filing of the indictment, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit ruled that there was justification for suspending Gandelman from office.

In his motion to suspend Gandelman, Mandelblit explained that continuing his tenure after the indictment was filed could result in serious damage to public trust and the values ​​of moral purity and the rule of law.

The offenses were allegedly committed in the period from when Gandelman was elected mayor and chair of the local planning and building committee in October 2013, until the investigation broke out in June 2018. The affair was revealed three years ago with Gandelman's arrest. The indictment states that Gandelman ran into a conflict of interest after being selected for the position with the help of Sami Levy, a real estate contractor and entrepreneur who held a number of positions in the municipality, including acting mayor, and felt a "deep personal commitment" to him. It was alleged that the mayor even feared that Levy would act to prevent his re-election and that despite this, he did not report the conflict of interest, did not sign a conflict of interest arrangement as required by law.

According to the indictment, Gandelman's conflict of interest was expressed in giving Levy direct access to his office frequently and handling his requests for employment and promotion of employees in the municipality.

It was further alleged that the mayor did not disqualify himself from discussing Levy's affairs, and took an active part in some of them.

Among other things, he discussed an application by a company he owns to legalize a construction violation in an office building in the city, signed a building permit for a real estate project in which the contractor had a substantial economic interest and was a partner in granting a building permit for a nursing home.

More on Walla!

Hadera corruption case: Mayor Zvika Gandelman will be charged with corruption

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Zvika Gandelman (Photo: Shlomi Gabay)

The indictment further states that at the end of January 2018, the mayor's office received a request under the Freedom of Information Act to receive Gandelman's meeting diaries.

Following this, Gandelman and the director of his bureau agreed to delete from the mayor's computerized diary some of the meetings that appeared in it, including meetings that he did not want to know existed, including the meetings with Levy.

The director of the bureau acted in accordance with the summary, thus causing a false output to be generated from the computerized diary.

In addition, it was agreed that the director of the bureau would forward to the Freedom of Information Commissioner at the municipality an overestimation of the working hours required to process the application, in order to get the applicant to withdraw the application, which was indeed continued.

The indictment also states that after Gandelman learned that a member of the city council had given a message to the police, which revolved around, among other things, Gandelman's relationship with Levy, Gandelman updated his driver about giving the message, sending him a message to stay away from the municipality in the near future. To thwart the criminal investigation.

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