After the audit in the High Court, the opposition demands again from the comptroller: Investigate the failures of the renovation of the Prime Minister's residence

MK Moshe Arbel turned to Engelman over the weekend and asked him to urgently examine the state's conduct with regard to work in Balfour and the Bennett family home, after High Court judges ruled that a "disturbing impression" arises from the affair.

"In an unacceptable renovation, one does not have to guess how the state would have behaved if it had been a private citizen"

His dew

22/05/2022

Sunday, 22 May 2022, 10:47 Updated: 12:35

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After High Court judges sharply criticized the state's conduct in the renovation work at Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's house, the opposition again appealed to the State Comptroller to examine the failures discovered in the process

. He asked for his urgent response to the flaws raised by the High Court judges in their rulings regarding the conduct of the Prime Minister's Office, the State Attorney's Office and the Prime Minister himself, regarding approvals and delays in the renovation project of the Prime Minister's official residence in Balfour and Bennett's private residence in Raanana

. "The Comptroller's Office to influence or intervene in the procedure, it is time to examine the said failures (some of which continue today regarding the lack of work in the Prime Minister's House in Jerusalem), draw the necessary conclusions in the circumstances and if necessary to forward to the Attorney General," Arbel wrote in his letter.

Sharp criticism from the High Court of Justice over the renovations. The Bennett family home in Raanana (Photo: Haaretz, Hadas Porush)

Last week, the High Court judges published their decision regarding the petition filed by the Raanana municipality and Bennett's neighbors against the renovation and construction work in the compound and the outline of the demonstrations near Bennett's private residence in Raanana. Permit in advance. "Regarding the conduct of the state in relation to the work required at the Prime Minister's House in Raanana and at the Prime Minister's Residence in Jerusalem, there is a disturbing impression that things are being done without a deliberate hand and with unclear drag," Judge Yosef Elron wrote in his ruling.

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With the conclusion of the legal proceedings, Arbel now demands that the State Comptroller's Office begin an investigation into the failures that have been discovered.

"It is inconceivable that the state will carry out renovations in the prime minister's private home, where he will live even after his current term ends (fixed term for a short time from the beginning) at a cost of many millions of shekels illegally, not through acceptable and obligatory planning procedures and without permission. "One should not guess how the representatives of the state would have behaved if it had been a private person, but what is forbidden to a citizen is allowed to become clear to the authorities and the prime minister," he wrote in his letter.

Second appeal from the opposition.

Comptroller Engelman (Photo: Reuven Castro)

Arbel also wants to check the delay in the renovation work at the official residence in Jerusalem, close to a year since the formation of the government.

"Many excuses have been made to the judges, including security complexity (which is nothing new), new demands raised, conservation issues, sanctions and a strike. All of these have good power to explain a short postponement. They are also the works without a doubt) there is no escape from going down to the root of the matter in view of its budgetary and symbolic implications, "he wrote.

It should be noted that the State Comptroller already received an application last month regarding the renovation work at Bennett's home in Raanana, MK Ophir Akunis (Likud), and updated Akunis who forwarded the application for examination in the relevant department of his office.

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• Naftali Bennett

• State Comptroller

• Matanyahu Engelman