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| Pâ•qidꞋ Yi•rᵊmᵊyâhꞋu |
1999.06.15 Government Press Office, Information Division, Israel Foreign Ministry, Yᵊru•shâ•laꞋyim – hâ-ÂrꞋëtz – "suggests that "numerous questions" arise from the affidavit submitted to the Jerusalem District Court by Itri Yᵊshiv•âhꞋ dean Rabbi Mordechai Elifant – according to whom "about $6 million and another NIS 9 million disappeared from the yᵊshiv•âhꞋ and were smuggled to Switzerland and other unknown destinations."
"In the affidavit, Elifant charges that, when he discovered the fiscal discrepancy, "Aryeh Deri… pressured him" not summon the authorities; instead, Deri proposed an "internal arbitration, in which he would play a central role."
Despite the fact that Deri has denied any wrongdoing, the [hâ-ÂrꞋëtz] editors are convinced that the Elifant affidavit is only "the tip of an iceberg of malfeasance whose summit is the transfer of huge sums of money and whose murky base conceals other distressing incidents." Moreover, "this is not the first time that questionable transactions involving the transfer of funds and dubious real estate deals have been uncovered in the ultra-Orthodox sector, especially in the yᵊshiv•âhꞋ world" – a reality that has led credence to characterizations of "ultra-Orthodox wheeler-dealers as conducting affairs in some closed world based on scorn for the rule of law."
With a great many details of the affair still unclear, "the Israel Police… must open a comprehensive investigation to solve the Itri riddle."
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