Israel has formally rejected a U.S. request to extradite former Israeli air force Brig. Gen. Rami Dotan, who was convicted of receiving kickbacks from U.S. defense contractors.
“We have told them, before they submitted any formal extradition request, that we would not comply because he was an Israeli citizen when the crimes were carried out,” Justice Ministry spokeswoman Etti Eshed said Tuesday.
She said the extradition request would not be honored, in part, because Dotan was already tried in Israel for the same offenses he is wanted for in the United States.
In March 1991, Dotan pleaded guilty in Israel to 12 counts of corruption and bribery, including having illegally acquired $12 million in bribes and kickbacks from U.S. companies he selected to supply equipment to the Israeli air force.
Dotan was serving as the air force’s chief procurement officer in New York during the late 1980s when he accepted the kickbacks.
Under a plea-bargain agreement, he was sentenced to 13 years in prison. He was also demoted to the rank of private.
The case, which reinforced concerns among American officials that foreign military contracts were not being properly monitored, was the subject of investigations launched last year by the U.S. General Accounting Office into how U.S. military aid is channeled to foreign countries.
The largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid, Israel last year received $3 billion of which $1.8 billion was directed to military purchases.
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