Prosecution demands 7-year jail sentence for MK Benizri
State asks Jerusalem court to hand down lengthy jail sentence to Shas lawmaker after he was convicted of bribery, fraud and breach of trust
The State Prosecution requested that Shas Knesset Member Shlomo Benizri be sentenced to seven years in prison following his conviction a few weeks ago on charges of bribery and other offenses.
During a hearing at the Jerusalem District Court on Tuesday, the prosecution also demanded that Benizri pay a hefty fine and be convicted of moral turpitude. The MKs attorneys asked that he receive a suspended sentence.
Earlier this month Benizri was convicted on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, committed during his tenure as labor and welfare minister. He was also convicted of conspiracy to commit fraud and disrupting court proceedings.
Two years ago the Shas MK was indicted for passing on advance information to building contractor Moshe Sela which included details on the quota of foreign laborers expected to arrive in Israel.
The prosecution said that in return for this information the Benizri had received perks worth millions of shekels, including large sums of money, expensive furniture, cleaning services, electrical appliances and help in expanding his apartment.
Following his conviction Benizri said "I've been persecuted for eight years for no fault of my own. Representatives of the prosecution said this is one of the biggest bribery scandals Israel has ever seen - and this is the biggest lie that was told since the establishment of the state."
Should Benizri be convicted of moral turpitude, he will be suspended immediately from the Knesset.
