Michael Tzur, former managing director of the Israel Corporation and former chairman of Zim Israel Navigation, was sentenced Friday to 15 years in jail. He had pleaded guilty earlier this month to 14 counts of larceny, bribery, theft, embezzlement, betrayal of confidence and mishandling of public funds in a case with international repercussions.
Tzur, 52, is the highest ranking Israeli public official to be charged with such offenses and to be sentenced to such a long term. Previous cases involving high-ranking civil servants involved security offenses, such as that of Prof, Ysrael Baer, an aid of former Premier David Ben-Gurion, who had been convicted of espionage in the 1950s.
The Tel Aviv district court ordered several years imprisonment on each of the 14 counts, totalling 79 years in prison. But some of the charges overlap so that the total number of years to which Tzur was sentenced is 15. A third of such prison terms is usually deducted for “good behavior.” The court, in passing sentence, called Tzur’s activities a show of disregard for the law. The court said Tzur’s motivation was not financial problems but rather a drive to enlarge his fortunes. Tzur’s defense attorneys indicated they were considering an appeal to the Supreme Court for a milder sentence.
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