Where is the shame? A man who defrauded dozens of innocent citizens of some NIS 16 million went all the way to the Supreme Court so that the Center for the Collection of Fines at the Enforcement and Collection Authority would spread out the NIS 12 million payments that he was supposed to repay. The Supreme Court justices also ruled that crime victims have the right to receive the full compensation awarded to them immediately, and not in installments.
This is the case of a debtor convicted in 2018 of a series of economic offenses, fraud, forgery and fraud totaling NIS 16 million. The debtor's sentence stated, "This is a serious fraud affair, in which the defendant defrauded many dozens of innocent civilians," and he was sentenced to 77 months in prison and compensation to the victims of the crime in the amount currently amounting to more than NIS 12 million. To date, the debtor has made almost no payment to the center for the collection of fines for the compensation debt.
Supreme Court (archive), photo: Reuters
The debtor petitioned the High Court of Justice against the Center for the Collection of Fines, since they refused to spread the compensation debt to the victims for payments. He asked the court to order the center to discharge his debt so that he would pay between NIS 1,000 and NIS 2,000 a month until his release date; And from that date onwards he will pay 5,000 shekels a month. The Center in its decision rejected the debtor's requests and objections, and ruled that the debtor's deployment proposals are not realistic at all in relation to the amount of the debt. He also ruled that the crime victims have the right to receive the full compensation awarded to them, especially considering that the debtor did not clarify what was done with the fraudulent money and where it was located, and did not act to return them even partially.
The debtor even claimed a complex health condition, but could not explain how this situation – along with serving a prison sentence – affects his solvency, which is based first and foremost on the profits he derived from committing the offenses.
In the decision handed down by the High Court of Justice, it was noted that the debtor did not point to any real reason to justify spreading the payment of the debt into such low payments relative to its amount, so that in fact acceptance of the petition means that the full compensation will not be paid to the victims of the crime for many years. The High Court also ruled that the debtor had not based his claim regarding his serious medical condition, and could not clarify where the money obtained as a result of the serious offenses committed by him was located.
Ordered to pay the entire amount (illustration), photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto
Finally, it was noted in the judgment that apart from an unproven claim that the debtor paid the victims NIS 2 million, which must be deducted from the debt, and one payment of NIS 1,000, the debtor made no payment in order to repay the compensation debt set for the victims. In light of all this, it was determined, as stated, that the petition is dismissed. "The petitioner has not pointed to any substantial reason that could justify spreading the payment of the debt into such low payments relative to its amount, which in effect means that the full compensation will not be paid to the victims of the crime for many years."
Director of the Fines Collection Center at the Enforcement and Collection Authority, Doron Infrastructure, welcomed the decision, saying: "The court explicitly ruled that a debtor convicted of a multimillion-dollar sting operation cannot receive long-term debt settlements without explaining where the many funds he made disappeared."
Wrong? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us