While Torah institutions are subject to incessant scrutiny
and are required to demonstrate the highest levels of
prudent management, other public organizations receive
special consideration in matters tax violations and
financial impropriety.
Former Tax Commissioner Yair Rabinovitz has been serving as
chairman of the Authority for Budgetary Review in the Soccer
League. In a recent interview with Ha'aretz, he
revealed a number of interesting facts and made several
statements worth quoting. Rabinovitz addressed under-the-
table deals in the soccer industry, the forgiving attitude
toward athletic team managers and the way various unethical
practices are being swept under the carpet.
One of the questions posed to Rabinovitz related to reports
about a soldier playing on a sports team--who is supposed
have salary limitations--who displays inexplicable
prosperity, allowing him to share his wealth, lead a
lifestyle of conspicuous consumption and even buy an
expensive car as a birthday present. In response, Rabinovitz
said, "According to the law a soldier cannot be paid more
than NIS 3,000 per month. I have enough experience to know
that anywhere a law is imposed, including athletic teams,
people try to outwit the law and they do commit certain
violations."
When asked how the Authority for Budgetary Review is
handling the matter, he replied, "If a team violates the law
or if a soldier violates Soccer Union regulations, if the
Authority is made aware of the violation and we are able to
prove it, then we act. I assume that the army would get
involved as well."
The reporter from Ha'aretz did not let him off with
that. "But when you read in the papers that a soccer player
serving in the military gives a car to someone as a present,
what do you do?"
Rabinovitz sidestepped the question. "Am I supposed to hire
investigators? The IDF read that story, too, and what did
they do about it?"
Rabinovitz was also asked about irregularities and financial
impropriety in soccer teams and suspicious acts that were
reported but did not lead to police investigation, trial or
punitive measures, but instead were wrapped up with the only
the firing or forced resignation of the managers. "This
approach creates an atmosphere in which individuals can get
away with anything by just slipping away quietly after the
fact," the interviewer points out, to which Rabinovitz
replied, "To be fired is no trivial matter.
"I don't think it's such a great honor that someone would
want to get fired," he explained, "since with people in
privileged positions, whose status in the soccer world
cannot be ignored, we tried to work for just removing them
from their positions, and allow them to leave in a dignified
manner."
Trying to unravel the meaning of this, the interviewer asked
whether the idea is to create a sort of intermediate status
of "a sentence without a trial." Rabinovitz confirms the
assessment. "That's exactly what we were aiming at. When all
is said and done, every person in a privileged position is
given the opportunity to make a dignified exit. Bigger
offenders are given a chance to speak up. We decided that
the man in question justified more delicate handling, and so
we gave him a chance to resign. We are not out to punish
people, we are just trying to maintain order." He also
admitted that there was pressure "from all sides" to
overlook the violations.
Rabinovitz also said he is aware that money passes under the
table in the sports industry, which benefits from official
government funding, and is supposed to be under tight
supervision. "I'm sure some money slips into the pockets of
private individuals as well," he said. "With money jangling
in management pockets, players can be paid outside the
framework of their contracts. I believe this practice is
limited, but it does exist."
He says he expects the authorities to be more alert in this
area, and points to a common example. "Monetary
contributions pass under the table, but this is not a case
of money-laundering. Once I gave a lecture at Tel Aviv
University, and a well-known mayor gave a lecture before me
and told the audience that he would not continue to grant
real estate easements to contractors who make donations to
soccer teams. What he was saying was a criminal act, but I
didn't hear about anyone handcuffing him and taking him
away."
Later in the interview the former tax commissioner explained
that the problem of the team managers who were caught for
financial impropriety lies in the "change in societal norms"
which caught them unprepared.
This description is reminiscent of a famous statement by a
senior U.S. government official several decades ago. He was
arrested after doing what everyone else was doing at the
time, dipping into public coffers, until one day he suddenly
realized that they had decided to tempt him to violate the
law. When the handcuffs were placed around his wrists he
blurted out, "Those scoundrels changed the rules and didn't
bother to tell anyone!"
This is the tone of Rabinovitz's explanations that a high-
ranking figure in the field of sports who was caught for
misconduct was acting like someone from a previous era. "If,
for example, Pinchas Sapir were a government minister today,
he would have been investigated and arrested, because norms
have changed. What was accepted practice back then is
shunned today. He acted according to norms that were
accepted in the past, but today these norms are no longer
acceptable. The norms have changed but he hasn't."
