State Prosecutor-designate submitted a false deposition - Haaretz

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		State prosecutor-elect Moshe Lador (left). (Archives)

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Last update - 18:47 13/11/2007

State Prosecutor-designate submitted a false deposition

By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent

tags: state prosecutor, Moshe Lador

State Prosecutor-designate Moshe Lador submitted a false deposition to the Jerusalem District Labor Court, which contradicted the court's own factual findings, according to a ruling issued by the court two months ago.

The Jerusalem labor court ruling dealt with the "deviant negligence," "powerlessness" and the "list of failures" of the Jerusalem District Prosecutor's Office, under the leadership of Lador in 2001-2003.

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Despite the fact that the ruling, which heavily criticizes Lador, was submitted to Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann and to the search committee charged with appointing a new state prosecutor, the panel nonetheless appointed Lador to the post.

Lador's appointed is scheduled to be brought before the cabinet for approval during one of its upcoming meetings.

Lador's false deposition was given in the midst of a law suit against the state filed by Shlomo Brubander who held a senior position in the Infrastructure Ministry between 1996 and 2001.

Brubander filed a suit demanding recognition of salary and benefits promised to him. After the Jerusalem District Prosecutor's office failed to enter a defense, a verdict was handed down in favor of the plaintiff, but the district prosecutor's office failed to transfer the funds, as the ruling stipulated.

Only after Brubander filed a petition with the High Court of Justice against the Jerusalem District Prosecution in 2003, did the prosecution submit a request to have the ruling overturned, citing the failing mental and physical state of the attorney who handled the prosecution's case in the original hearing.

Lador's deposition was submitted to the court in September 2003, and in it he stated that he had not known at the time of the incident about the events described in Brubander's lawsuit, and that he had first learned of the events after speaking to High Court officials shortly before giving his deposition.

However, the judges at the Jerusalem Labor Court suggested that the things stated in the deposition were untrue. "Attorney Lador," they wrote, "places full responsibility on the attorney and the secretaries of the district prosecution, and states that he had no knowledge of the incident at the time of the deposition. However, after we heard Lador's testimony, we looked at the prosecution's files, which we were given during the case, and it appears that the verdicts throughout the case passed under Lador's hands, he had signed them transferred them to the defense attorney for her use, and in this there is a contradiction of all the statements Lador made in his deposition, in which he said that he had no knowledge of the case

Lador explained that though he had signed the verdicts, the district prosecutor is not able to examine every document that passes through the office. However, the judges maintained that "there is no explanation why there was no supervision over the prosecution. All the facts that were brought before us lead us to the conclusion that the prosecution, as a responsible body representing the government, and despite warnings that reached them, ignored the court's verdicts and rulings."

The court ruled that the files "under the prosecution's management led to a chain of events that in every way can be seen as negligence by whoever was in charge of this file."

Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, who received the Jerusalem labor court's ruling two months ago, decided not to appeal to the National Labor Court, despite the harsh facts that the court found, and therefore finalized the ruling.

Lador said in response that "this is perhaps the worst oversight I had while serving in the Jerusalem District Prosecution. In a system loaded with thousands of files, it happens once in a while. I admit that there was an oversight that was entangled in a system that I was in charge of, but evidence points to the fact that I was deliberately sabotaged as a district prosecutor. Factually, I wasn't aware of the details of the file, but perhaps the court is rightly criticizing me that in the prosecution that was under my responsibility, a mishap such as this occurred."

The justice ministry also released a statement, maintaining that "although there were no reservations or opposition to Lador's candidacy with regards to the labor court's ruling, the ruling was brought before the search committee debating Lador's candidacy, and it was decided to appoint him. The committee did not feel there was enough in the ruling that could damage his qualification for the position. This was a severe oversight of an attorney in the district, who neglected the file because of her failing mental and physical state. The findings on Lador are based on administrative procedures: some of the decisions went through him, and were turned over to the attorney dealing with the file, who Lador trusted without examining the files. It will be noted that a great part of the correspondence with the district prosecution goes through the district prosecutor's office, but he does not necessarily examine each file, but deflects responsibility onto the person in charge, and because of that, Mr. Lador was unaware of the issue."

In explaining its decision, the panel, which is headed by Mazuz, said that "it became convinced that Lador signifies professional leadership and that he is the most qualified candidate for this complex and sensitive position. Lador was very impressive in his appearance in front of the panel, in the organized doctrine he presented and in his balanced and professional outlook."

Lador, 63, has been working as a lawyer in the private sector for the past four years. However, he is not considered an outside appointment since he spent most of his career as a Jerusalem district prosecutor.

As a prosecutor, Lador dealt with important criminal investigations such as the "Bar-On Hebron affair" against then prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and justice minister Tzahi Hanegbi. After being passed over in favor of Eran Shendar in the previous search committee, Lador joined a private law firm.

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1.	Lador was involved in a plot to subvert democracy and rule of law	11:59	\|	Nili	13/11/07

2.	may i read nepotism	15:20	\|	Gabriel	13/11/07

3.	TEST: Can he spell OLMERT ?	16:22	\|	S.Herlock	13/11/07

4.	The exact qualification needed	18:44	\|	Charlie Star	13/11/07

5.	Oh dear, yet another storm-in-a-teapot...	21:10	\|	Esther	13/11/07

6.	Re Nili #1	21:20	\|	Esther	13/11/07

7.	Re Esther #6: You`re either an ostrich or sick with Alzheimers	23:23	\|	Nili	13/11/07

8.	A false deposition, bending the truth? He`s could be PM of Israel	01:00	\|	Nannette	14/11/07

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