Last update - 00:00 22/11/2006
Sheetrit urges end to policy of detaining debtors
By Gideon Alon, Haaretz Correspondent
Acting Justice Minister Meir Sheetrit Wednesday spoke out against the standing state policy of detaining people with unpaid debts, and recommended passing legislation to stop the practice.
According to a report submitted to to the Knesset Legislative Committee, 2,714 people were arrested in the last year for unpaid financial debts. In total, 192,000 arrest warrants and subpoenas have been issued so far this year.
Sheetrit told the committee that in no other country are debtors customarily detained, adding "The system does not operative effectively. I don't want the ordinary citizen to be trampled by lawyers."
The committee said that while the police issue only 52 percent of arrest warrants, the NIS 17 million allotted to them by the treasury is supposed to cover all arrest warrants.
Sheetrit said that the system of seizing debtors' funds is inefficient. Revenues received from seizing unpaid funds amount to only NIS 13 million, a shortfall of NIS 4 million from the funding police receive.
In 2005, police seized funds from 4,157 people who had failed to pay their debts. Sheetrit recommended ending the policy of seizing funds, and of assisting private contractors in such activity.