NGO asks comptroller to probe Hotovely for abuse of office
Hotovely: Go ahead, there’s nothing to find.
By YONAH JEREMY BOBUpdated: OCTOBER 19, 2015 01:18Likud MK Tzipi Hotovely(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Ometz on Sunday sent a letter to State Comptroller Joseph Shapira requesting that he investigate Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely for allegedly abusing the powers of her office by using diplomatic mail to deliver campaign material.The letter from the NGO Citizens for Good Governance and Social and Legal Justice (Ometz) claims that Hotovely recently sent out campaign material to publicize her personal achievements in her first five months as deputy foreign minister.While many MKs use their budget as members of parliament to publicize such materials, the letter said that Hotovely had sent the colorful campaign in diplomatic mail to the state’s representatives around the world.Ometz implied that using diplomatic mail as well as juxtaposing the emblem of the Foreign Ministry with her campaign materials that contain the Likud emblem, violate the attorney-general’s guidelines on separating the running of ministries from campaigning activities, general ethics and the Foreign Ministry’s own guidelines.A spokesman for Hotovely angrily rejected the charges, stating that “there is nothing to investigate. Let them investigate, there is nothing to find.”He added that it was ridiculous for Hotovely, the comptroller or the public to get distracted every time the media writes an article about some allegation of misconduct or simply because one NGO writes a letter.Hotovely’s spokesman admitted that there had been an error regarding certain mailing issues, but that it had been a one-time honest error and had no significance.