TA court finds former Lands Authority official guilty of construction violations
Former Israel Lands Authority Jerusalem director Chemi Kasif was ordered to resign his position permanently, and cannot return to public service for at least seven years.
By YONAH JEREMY BOBA laborer works on an apartment building under construction in the Har Homa quarter in Jerusalem(photo credit: REUTERS)
Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court Judge Tzahi Ouziel on Sunday convicted former Israel Lands Authority Jerusalem director Chemi Kasif of illegal construction and land use.Kasif was convicted of the sorts of illegal alterations to his dwelling and adjacent other dwellings he owned that the ILA is supposed to guard against.He was ordered to resign his position permanently, and cannot return to public service for at least seven years.He received a NIS 75,000 fine and was forced to pay NIS 100,000 in security against future similar violations in the next three years, and approvals related to his dwelling were annulled. He has two years to redo the approval process and fix violations or pay hundreds of thousands of shekels in that regard, or he could face demolition orders being enforced.The investigation into Kasif’s violations began in July 2013, leading to his suspension from his position as head of Jerusalem’s ILA office. He was indicted in July 2014, including on counts of fraud, some of which were dropped later as part of a plea bargain.Kasif had submitted proper paperwork related to certain construction plans, but did not ask for approvals for combining multiple dwellings.After obtaining approvals that did not relate to combining the dwellings, he then went beyond the approvals and knocked down all walls separating two dwellings.
