According to a report on Channel 12, sources in the Justice Ministry have said the cases against Deri are still being reviewed by the State Attorney’s Office.
By JEREMY SHARONUpdated: FEBRUARY 1, 2019 01:55Shas party leader Arye Deri(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Shas chairman and Interior Minister Arye Deri will likely not be indicted on the various corruption charges against him before the election, giving the embattled minister a huge boost ahead of the poll.Sources in the Justice Ministry have said the cases against Deri are still being reviewed by the State Attorney’s Office and have yet to be sent to the attorney-general for his decision, making it unlikely that he will be indicted before the election.This will come as especially pleasing news to Deri and Shas at large since an indictment before the vote could do heavy damage to the party’s electoral fortunes and put it below the electoral threshold.It will also likely ensure that Shas and United Torah Judaism will not unite on a joint electoral list.Shas’s low polling numbers, averaging between four, the minimum needed to enter the Knesset, and six, have caused deep concern within both the Sephardi and Ashkenazi haredi (ultra-Orthodox) leadership, since Shas’s disappearance from the political map would deal a huge blow to haredi political power.A joint Shas-UTJ list was proposed as a way of preserving votes cast for Shas that may have been wasted if the party ran alone.In November, the police recommended charging Deri with fraud and breach of trust with respect to his conduct with a businessman while serving as a minister, as well as for significant tax offenses amounting to millions of shekels, money laundering, disruption of court proceedings and giving false information to the Knesset speaker and the state comptroller regarding his assets and income.
Related TagsShas
if(catID != 151){
var cont = `Take Israel home with the new Jerusalem Post Store
