A lawsuit was filed in Israel's High Court asking that
criminal charges be brought against Prime Minister Ehud
Barak and Los Angeles television producer Chaim Saban. The
paper indicate are the first "smoking gun," indicating
direct involvement of the prime minister in illegal
fundraising activities. Although the State Comptroller said
that Barak definitely bears executive responsibility for
such prominent actions of those working in his campaign,
this is the first evidence of his personal involvement.
The papers submitted to the court maintain that on March 25,
1999, a month and half before Israel's national elections in
which Barak won by a large margin over Netanyahu, Saban
hosted a campaign fundraiser in his Beverly Hills home for
prime ministerial candidate Barak -- in violation of Israeli
election laws.
The 35 to 40 guests who attended the parlor meeting were
asked to donate $10,000 each to benefit the Barak campaign.
The evening raised over $600,000, half of it from the
host.
On the evening of the fundraiser, Barak flew into L.A. and
spoke before the parlor meeting in Saban's home;
contributions were solicited.
Israeli law sharply restricts the amount of money that
individuals are permitted to donate, limiting it to a few
hundred dollars a year. Non-Israeli citizens, such as the
majority of the guests at the fundraiser, are not allowed to
donate at all. Violations of these campaign regulations are
punishable by up to one year in prison.
One guest at the fund raising event, businessman Daniel
Dilbort, the president of L.A.'s Nu Image productions,
admitted to Israel's leading daily Yediot Acharonot
that the participants understood that they were donating to
Barak's campaign: "We knew we were donating to Barak's
election campaign, but we did not know where the money was
going exactly."
Israeli police have been investigating allegations for over
a year that the Labor party head illegally raised millions
of dollars in funds for the 1999 campaign which brought him
to power.
Several of Barak's closest advisers, including his chief of
staff and his brother-in-law, have been named as suspects in
the widening scandal. Both have refused to cooperate with
the police investigation citing their right to remain
silent.
It is alleged that Barak's campaign employed as many as 18
nonprofit organizations to illegally channel funds to his
election team. Several of these organizations were revealed
as existing only on paper.
