POLITICAL PARTIES:
--------------------------------------------
Dec. 17, 2002

Police probe Likud members about alleged corruption in primary race

By Gil Hoffman

Police have questioned two candidates in the Likud race, lawmaker Ayoub Kara and central committee member Haim Cohen, who testified about charges of corruption in the December 8 primary.

Cohen ran for the 20th slot on the Likud list, reserved for a candidate from the Coastal Plain, but lost to Daniel Benlulu, of Ashdod, who is considered a power broker in the central committee. Cohen charged that Yitzhak Kaufman, a haredi vote contractor from Jerusalem, offered to support him in exchange for money.

"This guy dressed as a haredi came to me and I asked for his support," Cohen said. "He made me a money sign with this hand and when I asked him what he meant, he said: 'I don't care about this party, I don't care about the state, I came to the Likud for business.' "

Kaufman is known in the Likud as a major vote contractor, who brought in thousands of new voters in the July voter registration drive, which gave him dozens of loyalists in the central committee.

Cohen said he asked for $500 each for 140 voters. Cohen said he would appeal to a Likud court to expel Kaufman and the members he registered.

"This scandal shouldn't hurt the image of the Likud, because these aren't real Likud people," Cohen said. "All we need to do is eliminate a few bad apples and everything will be fixed. I am the real Likud, and I won't let anyone hurt the party that I grew up in."

Kaufman responded to Cohen's allegations by announcing that he is planning to sue him for libel. "The Jerusalem group [that I head] has been operating for many years and supports candidates in accordance with social and ideological criteria. As a result, even the notion that we would ask someone for payment shocks us and makes us nauseated," he said in a statement to The Jerusalem Post.

Kara said he went to talk to the National Fraud Squad without being summoned, to help the Likud get past the scandal as quickly as possible.

He told the police that previously unknown people won key spots on the Likud Knesset list because of unfair deals struck by central committee members with the party's administration. He gave the police names of senior Likud officials and committee members they should investigate.

"Some people are afraid to come forward and talk to the police, because they are worried people in the party will work against them in the future," Kara said. "But this is the only way to stop the people who have infiltrated the party."

The following is the list and rankings of Likud Party candidates to the January 28 Knesset election:

1. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
2. Foreign Minister Binyamin Netanyahu
3. Environment Minister Tzahi Hanegbi
4. Finance Minister Silvan Shalom
5. Cabinet minister Dan Naveh
6. Education Minister Limor Livnat
7. Yisrael Katz
8. Gideon Ezra
9. Nomi Blumenthal
10. Internal Security Minister Uzi Landau
11. Gila Gamliel
12. Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz
13. Yuval Steinitz
14. Cabinet minister Tzipi Livni
15. Michael Eitan
16. Justice Minister Meir Sheetrit
17. David Levy
18. Ruhama Avraham
19. Gideon Sa'ar
20. Daniel Ben-Lulu
21. Michael Ratzon
22. Majallie Whbee
23. Ya'acov Edri
24. Ehud Yatom
25. Eli Aflalo
26. Moshe Kahlon
27. Omri Sharon
28. Michael Gorlovsky
29. Inbal Gavrieli
30. Gilad Erdan
31. Roni Bar-On
32. Yehiel Hazan
33. Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert
34. Leah Ness
35. Ze'ev Boim
36. Avraham Herschson
37. Reuven Rivlin
38. Haim Katz
39. Pnina Rosenblum
40. Ayoub Kara
41. Moshe Feiglin
42. Eitan Sulami
43. Avigdor Kahalani
44. Zion Pinyan
45. David Mena
46. Shlomi Durani
47. Roni Milo
48. Yossi Ahimeir
49. Sima Navon
50. Shai Bazak
51. Eli Cohen-Artzi
52. Zalman Shoval
53. Yehiel Lasri
54. Nehama Ronen
55. Akiva Nof
56. Moti Mishani

--------------------------------------------
ELECTIONS 2003 HOME PAGE