The chairman of the Sephardic Orthodox Shas party, Aryeh Deri, is expected to plead guilty to minor tax violations in accordance with a soon-to-be-reached plea deal reached with Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, according to a report Monday night by reporter Amit Segal at Israel’s Channel N12 News.
דרעי ומנדלבליט על סף עסקה
* יודה בעבירות מס מרוככות
* לא יוטל מאסר או עבודות שירות
* יישאר יו״ר ש״ס אך יתפטר מהכנסת וכך יימנע מדיון על קלון
* בכך מקווה דרעי שייקל עליו לצלוח את משוכת בגצ כשימונה שוב לשר
* לא יפרוש מהפוליטיקה וישלוט בש״ס מרחוק, ויתמודד שוב לכנסת הבאה
— עמית סגל Amit Segal (@amit_segal)
Under the deal, the former Interior Minister — who currently sits in the Opposition with former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — will plead guilty to the tax offenses in exchange for no prison time and no community service to be imposed.
Deri will also remain chairperson of Shas but will agree to resign from the Knesset, although Deri has no intention of resigning from politics. Under the deal, the charges will not come with a disqualification from serving again in the Knesset. And because he will not serve any time, there will be no talk of public “disgrace,” according to Segal.
In doing so, Deri hopes it will be easier for him to deal with the Supreme Court and to again be appointed a government minister.
The Shas chairman intends to run again for the 25th Knesset.
This is not his first rodeo.
In 2000, Deri was convicted on charges of bribery dating back to the 1990s. He was forced to resign as Interior Minister government minister and 22 months in prison, in addition to being required to stay out of politics until 2012.
Israel Police recommended once again in November 2018, after an investigation that lasted nearly three years, that Deri be indicted for tax violations, fraud, breach of trust and money laundering.
Although the recommendation was adopted in August 2019 by then-Attorney General Shai Nitzan, Mandelblit decided to indict Deri earlier this year solely on the tax violations, saying there was insufficient evidence to proceed on the other charges.