Housing Minister Ariel Sharon has locked horns with State Comptroller Miriam Ben-Porat over her report sharply critical of the way his ministry conducts its business.
He accused Ben-Porat of intervening in the election campaign. He said the timing of the April 28 report, which has triggered a criminal investigation, is evidence of its political intent.
Ben-Porat issued a statement rejecting Sharon’s complaints. Her annual report contained allegations of corruption, maladministration and professional incompetence in the ministry charged with the task of providing housing for thousands of new immigrants.
Ben-Porat, a former member of the High Court of Justice, asked Attorney General Yosef Harish to consider criminal action on the basis of its findings. The police are currently pursuing several lines of inquiry to determine if there are grounds for prosecution.
Specifically, the comptroller alleged irregularities in handing out building contracts. She was especially critical of Uri Shani, one of Sharon’s closest associates, who is director general of Amidar, the national housing company that provides dwellings for new immigrants and the poor.
Interviewed on Israel Television’s nightly newscast on Monday, Sharon said, “It is a mistake and first-rate impertinence to charge that there was corruption in the ministry.”
He urged Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir to demand that the police complete their investigation “within a month” in order “to spare further agony from the families whose lives have turned into hell since the report was released.”
He blasted the State Comptroller’s Office for not turning over the alleged incriminating evidence months ago instead of just before the election campaign.
Ben-Porat replied that her office conducted its investigation without regard to the elections, which were originally scheduled to be held in November but advanced to June when the Likud government lost its parliamentary majority.
The comptroller, the state’s official watch-dog, traditionally exercises broad autonomy and is non-partisan.
Shani said in a radio interview Monday that he had not pocketed a penny. He said all of his company’s activities were approved by its board of directors.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
