Three former directors of Habimah, Israel’s national theater, were sentenced to prison terms by a district court here today after their conviction on charges of embezzling more than IL 500,000 from the theater’s funds between 1962-68. Asher Sherf, who was the administrative director of the famed company and allegedly received the largest share of the embezzled funds, was sentenced to six years imprisonment, three of which were suspended, and fined IL 94,000.
Abraham Ninio, 57, a stage director, actor and former member of Habimah’s directorate, got a three-year prison term of which two years were suspended and was fined IL 43,000. The third defendant, Mrs. Bat Ami Elyashiv, 63, an actress and former member of the directorate, drew a three-year suspended sentence and an IL 85,000 fine. Implementation of the sentences will be held up pending appeal.
A scandal in another area emerged today when Tzvi Alderotti, chairman of the board of directors of Amidar, the State-owned housing company, submitted his resignation to Housing Minister Avraham Ofer. His resignation followed charges of forgery and theft on the part of the company’s treasurer. Alderotti said that while the alleged crimes were perpetrated by another individual, he considered himself morally responsible in the eyes of the public. Amidar is a holding company that controls flats allocated to new immigrants. About 200,000 families occupy Amidar flats, making it the largest landlord in Israel.
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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.
