Israel’s Supreme Court on Sunday rejected former Shas Party leader Arye Deri’s request for a retrial on fraud and bribery charges. Deri based his appeal on a challenge to the credibility of a key state witness in his trial. But the court said Deri’s conviction was not based just on the testimony of Ya’acov Shmuelevitch. In April 1999, Deri was convicted of accepting $155,000 in bribes during his five years as director-general and later minister of the Interior Ministry. He was sentenced to three years in prison but was released in 2002 after serving two years.
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