Likud told not to use prime minister's home for political events
MK Nir Barkat tops list of candidates fined by comptroller
By GIL HOFFMANA view of the house of the Israeli Prime Minister in Jerusalem. June 07, 2002.(photo credit: NATI SHOCHAT/FLASH 90)
State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman warned the Likud to stop using the prime minister’s official residence for political events in a report that he released on Monday.The Likud responded that it had received permission from legal authorities to hold political events at the Prime Minister’s Residence on Jerusalem’s Balfour and Smolenskin streets but after the comptroller ruled against it, the party would not do so in the future.Likud MK Nir Barkat received the largest fine among candidates probed by Englman in the report, including 71 candidates who were found to have violated the rules.Englman fined Barkat NIS 25,000 for spending NIS 200,000 more than the NIS 33,830 limit in his primary campaign for the Likud list and for not providing enough documentation of his expenses. Barkat is a hi-tech venture capitalist worth NIS 500 million and the wealthiest MK in the Knesset, so the fine is not expected to cause him much of a hardship.Others who received fines for financial irregularities in Likud were MKs Ayoub Kara (NIS 22,000), Osnat Mark (13,000), Fateen Mulla (13,000) and Keti Shitrit (7,000), as well as former MK Yaron Mazuz (6,000). Former Labor MK Salah Sa’ad was fined NIS 12,000.Englman criticized the Likud for not following his office’s financial regulations and Bayit Yehudi, Degel Hatorah and the United Arab List (Ra’am) for being too much in debt. He fined the Likud and Labor NIS 100,000 each, Agudat Yisrael NIS 40,000 and Ra’am NIS 26,000.
