Deputy Jerusalem Mayor Meir Turgeman, a candidate in the city’s mayoral race, has been indicted on charges of bribery, theft, breach of trust and interfering in a police investigation. Turgeman, who has been suspended from his duties, holds the city’s building portfolio.

According to the report in the Yisrael Hayom newspaper, the Tel Aviv District Attorney’s Office for Taxation & Economics told the District Court in Lod that it intends to submit a letter of indictment against Turgeman. The prosecutor, attorney Hila Gabbai, informed Judge Ami Kobo that the investigation phase has ended.

The hearing in the District Court took place following Turgeman’s appeal against the city’s Magistrate’s Court, which accepted the police’s decision to extend his removal from the Jerusalem Municipality for an additional 90 days. In the magistrate court decision, Justice Guy Avnon wrote: “There is a real concern that allowing the suspect to return to work in the municipality, in any position, will allow him to return and commit offenses of the same type.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)