Israel’s governing Labor Party was badly shaken by Asher Yadlin’s guilty plea yesterday in which the former head of Kupat Holim admitted that he accepted bribes and claimed he turned much of the money over to the Labor Party treasury. Key party figures named by Yadlin in the Tel Aviv district court were quick to deny any knowledge of such transactions.
Finance Minister Yehoshua Rabinowitz told television reporters last night that he was never personally involved in party financing. He and former party treasurer Zeev Weiner were among those mentioned by Yadlin as having received the money. David Kalderon, another Labor insider and former associate of the late Finance Minister Pinhas Sapir, also denied knowledge of monies paid by Yadlin to the party.
Education Minister Aharon Yadlin, a cousin of the defendant who was the Labor Party’s secretary general at the time the money was allegedly transferred, declined to comment on press reports that he might resign from the Cabinet. Aharon Yadlin’s name was signed to a receipt for IL 70,000 received from Asher Yadlin. The receipt was entered as an exhibit for the defense in court yesterday. The Education Minister said that on the advice of counsel he would not discuss the Yadlin trial until it is over.
FACES ADDITIONAL CHARGES
Although Yadlin will be sentenced next Tuesday for the offenses to which he has pleaded guilty, he faces prosecution on additional charges of bribery, fraud and tax evasion. Attorney General Aharon Barak indicated, meanwhile, that he would examine Yadlin’s testimony to determine whether to order an investigation of the Labor Party’s finances. The party may be open to charges that in accepting money from Yadlin it violated a 1973 law barring contributions from companies. Kupat Holim, the giant Histadrut sick-fund, could be legally construed as a company.
An investigation of Labor Party finances during the heat of the election campaign could have grave political consequences for Labor. Rabin met at the party headquarters in Tel Aviv last night with Rabinowitz, Aharon Yadlin and others named in the guilty plea. The meeting, attended by party secretary general Meir Zarmi, was apparently called to decide on strategy to meet the political onslaught triggered by Asher Yadlin’s allegations. (By David Landau and Gil Sedan)
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