BREAKING NEWS

Watchdog group wants Deri finances probed

Economy Minister Arye Deri’s personal wealth should be investigated, the Movement for Quality Government wrote Tuesday to the State Comptroller’s Office and to Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein.
The watchdog group made the request following reports in the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) media that Deri falsely declared to authorities ahead of last March’s election that he owned one apartment when he actually owned three. The reports said the three apartments together were worth close to NIS 15.5 million.
The Globes financial newspaper reported that Deri owned a plot of land in Jerusalem’s Givat Shaul neighborhood in which five apartments were being built.
Deri served two years in prison after a conviction in 1997 for accepting $155,000 in bribes while serving as interior minister.
He returned to the Knesset in 2013 and became a minister in 2015.
The movement said all of the official wealth declaration documents submitted by Deri since 2013 should be examined.