|
|
NEWS
Jewish Agency Refuses to Continue Paying for Burg's
Chauffeur
By G. Lazer
Former Jewish Agency Chairman Avram Burg was denied a request
to require the Jewish Agency to continue paying NIS 22,000
($5,500) a month to cover the costs of a private driver.
Since his resignation, Burg, who served as chairman of the
Jewish Agency for four years, has enjoyed a series of perks,
including a chauffeur and an allowance for a car.
One year ago the Knesset Finance Committee passed an
amendment making prime ministers who left office between June
1996 and March 2006 eligible to continue receiving these
benefits only until the end of 2006. This decision applied to
Burg as well, forcing him to part with his full-time driver.
He petitioned the Labor Affairs Court, saying that for years
all former Jewish Agency heads, without exception, received
transportation services "from the end of their service until
their dying day."
Recently Ometz (an organization campaigning for government
propriety) asked Knesset Chairwoman Dalia Itzik and Jewish
Agency Chairman Zeev Bielski to revoke Burg's special
entitlements as former Knesset chairman and Jewish Agency
chairman after discovering that he has become a French
citizen. Ometz notes Burg even carried out his "civic duty"
by taking part in the French presidential elections.
|
