Attorney charged for hiring hit on state witness

Finkelstein was already jailed for failed bombing, arson attempts, when he sought to hire undercover policeman to off state witness in his case.

By JOANNA PARASZCZUK, YAAKOV LAPPIN
311_gavel (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
311_gavel
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Attorney Gor Finkelstein, who was being held in prison during his trial on charges that he hired hit men to kill several people, was charged on Thursday of obstruction of justice for trying to order a hit against a state witness.
Finkelstein,along with his father Yithak, who was also charged, allegedly tried to hire an undercover policeman to carry out the hit, according to the report. The two were arrested by police and the Prison Service in a covert operation.
RELATED:TA lawyer charged with paying mob in Scientology bomb plotPolice: Mobsters planned to blame bomb on far-RightThe attorney was already accused by police in May of ordering several failed bombings and arson attempts when he was rearrested in the Sharon Prison a few weeks ago. Finkelstein was first arrested in May on suspicion of hiring a Jaffa-based mob to bomb the Scientology Center building there, for financial gain.
Immediately before his arrest on Saturday night, Yitzhak Finkelstein allegedly transferred cash to a undercover police agent, which police suspect was intended to pay for the hit on the state witness.
In his ruling, Judge Eran Kotton of the Haifa Magistrate’s Court wrote that there were reasonable grounds for extending Finkelstein’s custody.
The court also ruled that Yitzhak Finkelstein will remain in custody until July 20.
His attorney, Avi Himi, protested the extension of custody, and told the court that Yitzhak had acted as a messenger and as the “right hand” for his son since his arrest three months ago, receiving funds from his son on several occasions.
“That does not mean that [Yitzhak] knew anything or even part of anything of any plans that were developed inside the prison,” Himi said.
“About the meeting that took place yesterday [between Yitzhak Finkelstein and the undercover officer], the undercover agent raised all kinds of topics because he knew he was recording [Finkelstein’s] father... It does not mean that the father knew about anything specific,” Himi said.
He asked the court to send Finkelstein for a psychiatric examination. The court obliged.
When the alleged plot to bomb the Scientology Center, involving a truck filled with gas canisters and 300 liters of gasoline, failed, the men were ordered to set the building on fire, police said. That alleged attempt ended in failure as well.
He allegedly ordered the mobsters to harm Shota Hovel, the head of the construction oversight department at the Tel Aviv Municipality, following Hovel’s decision to knock down the building in Jaffa owned by Scientologists due to violations of building regulations.
Finkelstein allegedly had a financial interest in preventing the building from being demolished, and was behind the May 9 attempt to detonate a car bomb under Hovel’s car in Bat Yam. Hovel escaped from the incident unharmed, but the vehicle was damaged.
In a subsequent assassination attempt, three men dressed as police officers stopped Hovel in his car and tried to attack him with an electric shocker. That attack failed, too, and the attackers fled. Hovel was lightly wounded.
Finkelstein eventually concluded that it would be most profitable for him to arrange for the building to be rebuilt elsewhere, police suspect, as he received a commission from contractors behind the construction.
He is also suspected of sending men to kill his ex-wife’s partner.