You deviated, you paid: The State Comptroller published today (Tuesday) an audit report on the management of the candidates' finances in the primaries for the Knesset lists and for the leadership of the parties held ahead of the elections for the 25th Knesset.
Voting in the Labor Party primaries for the 25th Knesset \\ Photo: Moshe Ben-Simhon, Yoni Rikner
The report found a series of deficiencies regarding candidates and MKs who did not manage their financial accounts according to the law, did not report on time, or exceeded the expenditure ceiling. For some of them, the comptroller ruled that a fine should be imposed for returning money to the state treasury.
Nir Barkat. Leading the list (archive), photo: Oren Ben Hakon
The law stipulates that no later than six weeks after the day of the primary elections, every candidate must submit to the State Comptroller a financial report on his income and expenses due to the primary elections, and that a candidate who did not receive donations or did not incur expenses in the framework of these elections shall provide the State Comptroller with a notice confirming this.
MK Gilad Kariv. Second place on the State Comptroller's list, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
In August 2022, four parties, Religious Zionism (17 candidates), Likud (151 candidates), the Labor Party (33 candidates) and Meretz (23 candidates), held primary elections for their candidates for the position of twenty-fifth Knesset member.
Eight candidates from the various parties submitted financial statements with considerable delay, and therefore the audit was not completed at the time of publication of the report, among them: Yair Golan of Meretz, Uzi Dayan and Osnat Mark of the Likud, and other candidates.
List of candidates for primaries and Knesset members who deviated,
The State Comptroller examined and found that out of 216 candidates in the primaries, 138 candidates had no deficiencies and 78 had deficiencies. Twelve of the 12 candidates did not submit financial statements, and therefore the State Comptroller determined that these candidates did not comply with the provisions of the law. The comptroller also ruled that they must transfer sums to the state treasury.
Michaeli and members of Knesset. Deficiencies among candidates for the Labor Party primaries as well, photo: Coco
An examination of the accounts of the other 66 candidates revealed deficiencies such as: financial statements were submitted after the date prescribed by law, bank accounts dedicated to campaign expenses and income were not opened, election expenses exceeded the expenditure ceiling, payments were made not through bank accounts designated for the elections, general agreements were made with service providers without attaching the required documents that enable them to examine the nature of the engagements, their scope and their reasonableness.
More than NIS 200,<>
In respect of all the aforementioned deficiencies, the State Comptroller determined that the candidates must transfer a total of NIS 226,200 to the State Treasury.
According to a table published in the report, MK Nir Barkat has the highest amount to return to the state coffers due to exceeding the expenditure ceiling and will return NIS 50,15 from the report. After him, MK Gilad Kariv of Labor, who has both deficiencies in bookkeeping and the expenditure ceiling, will return NIS 000,10, in third place MK Avichai Boaron of the Likud, who will return NIS 000,<> for scorching the expenditure ceiling.
The Likud primaries at the exhibition grounds, photo: Gideon Markowitz
According to the candidates' reports, their income in the primary elections for the position of 25th Knesset member totaled NIS 17.3 million – NIS 11.7 million from grants and NIS 5.6 million from donations.
68% (NIS 3.8 million) of the donations received came from donations from self-financing and family members, 27% (NIS 1.5 million from donations from Israel, and 5% (NIS 0.3 million) from abroad.
46 candidates in deficit
According to the comptroller's report, 46 candidates finished with a deficit (a total of NIS 1.5 million), 33 candidates finished in balance, and 83 candidates finished in surplus (a total of NIS 0.7 million).
The report also examined primaries for the leadership of the parties in Religious Zionism, Likud, Meretz and Labor.
In these elections, Bezalel Smotrich, Benjamin Netanyahu, Merav Michaeli and Zehava Galon were elected chairmen of the same parties (respectively).
Minister Bezalel Smotrich. No income and no expenses, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Three candidates (Zehava Galon, Eran Hermoni and Merav Michaeli) submitted a timely financial report to the State Comptroller. Two candidates, Benjamin Netanyahu and Bezalel Smotrich, submitted a statement to the State Comptroller's Office stating that they had no income or expenses during the elections. Meretz candidate Yair Golan submitted a financial report with considerable delay, and therefore its examination has not yet been completed.
Regarding five candidates (Zehava Galon, Eran Hermony, Merav Michaeli, Benjamin Netanyahu and Bezalel Smotrich), the State Comptroller determined that no flaws were found in their accounts. According to the candidates' reports, their income in the primary elections for the position of party chairman amounted to NIS 516,000, all from donations. According to the candidates' reports, their expenses in the primary elections for the position of party chairman totaled NIS 511,000. The auditor found that the expenses of all candidates for party chairman who submitted a report did not exceed the expenditure ceiling.
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