Asher Yadlin, former head of Kupat Holim, was sentenced to five years imprisonment today and fined IL 250,000 on several counts of bribery, fraud and embezzlement to which he pleaded guilty a week ago. Judge Hadassah Ben-Ito who pronounced the sentence, said she disbelieved Yadlin’s claim that he had turned most of the bribe money he accepted over to the Labor Party for its election campaign fund in 1973. The sentence can be appealed.
Judge Ben-Ito said that even if the claim were true, it did not mitigate Yadlin’s offenses. She added, however, that because Yadlin pleaded guilty and because his career and reputation are ruined, she did not impose the maximum allow able sentence of seven years. Yadlin stood stoney-faced during the 40 minutes it took to read the charges and hear the judge’s statement. He burst into tears when the sentence was pronounced. Members of his family claimed he had been maligned by the press.
The focus of interest in the case is less Yadlin’s fate than the possible damage his testimony could do the Labor Party in the coming elections and the personal repercussions for Premier Yitzhak Rabin. Yadlin was not only a long-time Labor stalwart but had been nominated by Rabin last year for the prestigious and influential post of Governor of the Bank of Israel. His nomination was withdrawn by the Cabinet only after a warrant was issued for his arrest.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
