Senior Knesset Official Dismissed for Using Family Business for Procurement
The Civil Service Commission's Disciplinary Court has ordered the dismissal of senior Knesset official Shai Berkovich. He was convicted of using his position to procure services from a family-owned company without disclosing a conflict of interest.
The Disciplinary Court of the Civil Service Commission ordered last week the dismissal of a senior Knesset official, Shai Berkovich, who admitted and was convicted as part of a plea bargain of ordering services from a family technology company owned by his daughter and subsequently by his wife, totaling 15,000 shekels. This was done without informing his superiors of the identity of the company's owners or consulting with ministry officials regarding a conflict of interest.
In addition, the court sentenced Berkovich to a four-year ban from working at the Knesset, a two-year ban from the civil service, and a severe reprimand. Berkovich, a senior head of the administrative systems division, was responsible for the administrative "behind the scenes" of the Knesset, ensuring that all systems operated in a smooth, secure, and efficient digital manner.
The sentence imposed deviated significantly from the penalties established in the plea bargain with the prosecution, which did not include dismissal but rather a one-year suspension from a managerial position, forfeiture of half a month's salary, a one-rank demotion for six months, and a severe reprimand.
"The original plea bargain presented to us sought to keep the defendant in the exact same position, while relying blindly on the fact that the updated computerized system would 'protect him' and monitor his steps," stated the ruling of the panel headed by Adv. Yochai Ben-Shmuel. "This solution was rejected by us entirely; it is not a proper administrative response but a severe normative loophole. Public trust cannot be restored as long as an employee who reached into the public coffers and grossly violated the trust placed in him continues to sit under close supervision at the same administrative 'faucet'."
The ruling further stated that the deviation from the agreement was a mandatory correction of a severe normative and functional error. On Monday, Berkovich, through attorney Ayla Honigman, filed an appeal to the Jerusalem District Court, along with a request to stay the execution of the sentence, arguing that the measures were "light-years away" from the original plea bargain.
