A bitter behind the-scenes clash between Attorney General Aharon Barak and senior Treasury officials over how to handle the Rabin case came to light today. Treasury sources and sources close to Barak acknowledged that the dispute was over whether or not to prosecute Mrs. Leah Rabin–and possibly the Premier himself–for the joint bank account they held in Washington, D.C. in violation of Israel’s currency laws.
The Treasury committee investigating the case recommended leniency toward Mrs. Rabin on grounds that she was the Premier’s wife. It was prepared to let her off with the IL 150,000 fine levied Thursday by the Finance Ministry’s administrative penalty committee.
But Barak insisted on prosecution. He warned Treasury officials that he would challenge their recommendation in the courts and implied that he might resign. He said that if Mrs. Rabin was exempted from prosecution he would be forced to drop dozens of currency violation cases currently before the courts. According to law and past precedence, the Attorney General has the final say on whether or not to prosecute a case.
NO GROUNDS FOR LENIENCY
Treasury officials, apparently including Rabin’s close friend and associate, Finance Minister Yehoshua Rabinowitz, argued that the Rabins already had suffered severe punishment from the publicity surrounding their case and the additional adverse publicity aroused by the large administrative fine. They said that while other offenders similarly fined were able to escape opprobrium, a public official of Rabin’s rank could not.
Barak said that the size of the illegal account and Mrs. Rabin’s “many” withdrawals from it since 1973, which she has acknowledged, gave no grounds for leniency. It was a clear-cut case of the rule of law and equality before the law, Barak declared, according to sources close to him. “I have written many articles about these principles and there comes a time when one must implement them,” the 39-year-old state prosecutor was quoted as saying.
Legal sources disclosed that Barak had personally consulted lower level Treasury officials who handle currency cases and found a unanimous view among them that there were insufficient grounds for leniency in the Rabin case.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
