As you like it. Hirchson
Photo: Yaron Brener
Hirchson caught on tape lying to police
Court releases video depicting former finance minister, currently on trial for multiple charges of fraud, deceiving police investigators
The Tel Aviv District Court released parts of former Finance Minister Abraham Hirchson's police interrogation tape Sunday, in which he is clearly heard lying about receiving illegal cash payments.
The former finance minister is currently standing trial for fraud and embezzlement, allegedly preformed during his tenure as head of the National Labor Federation (NLF), between 1998 and 2005.
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In one clipping, Hirchson is seen confronting former Director-General of the NLF Yitzhak Russo and stating that he had "never received cash payment, under any arrangement" – a statement he later recanted.
Hirchson confessed to receiving monthly payments of NIS 25,000 (approx. $5,900), as well as additional traveling expenses. The former minister stated time and again that he did not embezzle the funds but was entitled to them, as payment for services rendered by the NLF.
During his various testimonies in court, Hirchson was also asked about funds given to his son, Ofer, as well as about his reported "entertainment expenditures", which amounted to thousands of shekels.
The funds given to his son, he said, were a business loan repaired in full. As for the entertainment expenditures, which consisted mostly of first-class restaurant bills, the former finance minister said they were a necessity.
"It was all part of the NLF's marketing and PR… you have to create a certain atmosphere for people. It's what they like."
"Of course people like it," commented Justice Bracha Ofir-Tom, presiding over the trial, "But did the NLF like it as well?"
"If it got 50 new members out of if, then yes it did," Hirchson replied.
In another related case, the Tel Aviv District Court found Zion Cohen, who headed the NLF's Pension Fund and was implicated as an accomplice in Hirchson's fraud case, guilty of embezzlement.
Cohen was sentenced Sunday to six months of community service and was ordered to pay a fine of NIS 50,000 (about $12,000).
