A Knesset committee has voted to lift the parliamentary immunity of Deputy Religious Affairs Minister Rafael Pinhasi, so that he can face charges of misappropriating Shas party funds.
The move, requested by Attorney General Yosef Harish, was adopted 10-5 Tuesday by the House Committee and must now be put to a vote by the full Knesset.
The accusations leveled at Pinhasi concern alleged Shas misappropriations of state-supplied election funds during the 1988 parliamentary campaign and afterward.
Pinhasi is one of three Shas officials accused of wrongly appropriating government funds.
Knesset member Yair Levy has begun serving a five-year prison sentence for stealing monies from the party. Levy lost his parliamentary immunity in November 1991.
And Interior Minister Arye Deri broke his silence in early February and agreed to cooperate with the police investigation into his alleged wrongdoings, which has been in progress for the past two years.
Pinhasi was to address the full Knesset on his own behalf Wednesday. Also scheduled to speak was the committee chairman, Haggai Merom.
Following their addresses, the Knesset is to decide on Pinhasi’s immunity in a secret ballot.
Some observers believe the decision will be politically connected to the Knesset vote for the largely ceremonial post of president.
The Labor Party needs the support of Shas, one of its two coalition partners, to ensure the comfortable election of its candidate, Ezer Weizman.
Running against Weizman is Knesset speaker Dov Shilansky of the Likud party.
Sources in the House Committee said both Labor and Likud Knesset members were subjected to political and personal pressure, and many were reportedly wavering until the last moments before the vote.
The chairman of the Labor Knesset faction, Eli Dayan, who is a member of the House Committee, insisted the vote have no repercussions on relations between Labor and Shas in the coalition.
Knesset member Yosef Azran of Shas agreed that there should be no coalition crisis over the issue. Nevertheless, Shas’ spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, summoned a meeting of the party’s Council of Sages for Wednesday.
The meeting ostensibly was called to discuss the worsening security situation in the territories. But political observers regarded the meeting as a tactic designed to influence coalition members in the vote by the full Knesset.
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