The man who replaced Avraham Hirchson as chairman of the National Workers Federation (NWF) testified in the Tel Aviv District Court on Thursday that he had routinely signed blank checks for senior union officials. "That was a bad standard, but it was the standard," said Anschel Ashkenazi. "We were all friends. We all advanced together, and in my darkest dreams I would never have imagined that they would not do their work honestly." Ashkenazi served as acting chairman of the NWF from 2003 and officially replaced Hirchson two years later, when Hirchson became a minister in the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The prosecution showed Ashkenazi two checks signed by him for NIS 26,000 each that had been given to Hirchson. Ashkenazi said he had thought the checks were expense reimbursements. He added that he'd thought Hirchson should have been paid NIS 2,500 per month for expenses but that because he was a politician with many meetings, it was reasonable to think that his expenses were higher. Nonetheless, he said, he'd thought that the bills Hirchson submitted for restaurants were too high. He also said that because Hirchson was the chairman, no one had examined him. "He was the one who appointed the division heads, and he was the one who could fire them," said Ashkenazi. Hirchson is suspected of stealing NIS 2.5 million from the NWF and its subsidiary, Nili, from 1998 until 2005. He is charged with theft by a director, deceit and breach of trust in a corporate body, illegal money laundering, making false entries in the documents of a corporate body and obtaining something by deceit. According to the second charge, Hirchson received expenses to cover meals on weekends from 1999 to 2004. The total bill covered by the NWF was NIS 62,790. His most expensive meal totaled NIS 7,547.
