Last update - 00:00 22/03/2007
Four Labor activists charged with forgery to help Peretz in party primaries
By Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondent
Four Labor Party activists were charged in Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court on Thursday with forging party membership forms in order to help Defense Minister Amir Peretz win the 2005 Labor primaries.
They allegedly intended to receive, among other things, appointments as Labor Central Committee members.
All four defendants are activists in a Tel Aviv taxi drivers' union. The primary defendant, Yehuda Ben Or, headed the union when it was part of the Histadrut labor federation.
Ben Or began representing Peretz as a primaries supervisor 2004, and instructed the other defendants, Aharon Rahamim, Avraham Rahamim, and Rafi Atar. Together the four allegedly signed hundreds of taxi drivers and their families up for party membership, without their knowledge. On several occasions they even asked the drivers to fill out the membership forms, saying the forms served a different purpose.
Political party members are obligated by law to pay membership dues with a personal check. The defendants therefore allegedly asked the drivers for checks for NIS 180, justifying the payment with various pretenses. At times, they asked for the checks and later paid them back with union funds. On some occasions, they are suspected of having asked the drivers to pay their station dues in two checks - one of which was for NIS 180 - so that essentially the taxi station would pay their party membership dues, and later the union would pay the station back.
The four are also charged with using fraudulent documents, fraudulent gain and attempting to illegally cast votes.