By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMANUpdated: MAY 3, 2016 01:46Arye Deri.(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
The criminal investigation probing Shas leader Arye Deri has intensified and now encompasses new allegations of wrongdoing as a public figure, Channel 10 reported Monday night.Until now, there have only been reports of the investigation focusing on real estate owned by Deri and his family, but the new report said other issues related to Deri’s handling of financial matters were also being probed and were more serious.Legally mandated gag orders prevented the report from being more specific, but it said the case could last years and was much more complex than a probe of opposition leader Isaac Herzog that is about to be closed.A separate report on the same channel found that in coalition talks between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Herzog, the latter offered the former seven portfolios, including the Justice Ministry for MK Shelly Yacimovich.The report said coalition guidelines would not need to be changed, and it was possible that Bayit Yehudi could remain in the coalition with the Zionist Union, but Yacimovich and MK Tzipi Livni opposed the move and the probe of Herzog ended the negotiations.Herzog has hired a new political strategist, former Labor MK Ronen Tzur, who, Channel 10 pointed out, on March 9, criticized Herzog on Twitter.“The opposition is so dormant, tired and pitiful that the only alternative to Bibi is Netanyahu,” Tzur had tweeted.
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