Shas party leader Aryeh Deri has announced that he signed a plea deal with the Attorney-General’s office as part of his being indicted for a pair of tax offenses. According to the deal, Deri will pay a fine of 180,000 NIS, and resign from the Knesset. In return for his signing the plea deal, the Attorney-General, Avichai Mandelblit, will not file ‘moral turpitude” charge against the leader of the Shas party, and thus, Deri will be legally allowed to return to the Knesset in the future, even as early as the next election cycle.

Deri, was previously convicted, and served jail time, for taking bribes. He returned to the Knesset once before in 2013 after serving his sentence.

Mandelblit has accused the Shas leader of failing to report income to tax authorities on two occasions as well as other tax offenses which he allegedly committed while selling real estate in Jerusalem to his brother Shlomo Deri.

In spite of police recommendations that Deri be charged with other crimes as well, according to the final plea deal, which was announced on Thursday, Deri will admit to two offenses only: failing to accurately report the value of a property he sold to his brother in 2013, and helping his brother write a false statement about the property’s true value.

Deri said, “I decided to take responsibility for mistakes that were made without any malevolent intent, to put the affair behind me and avoid an entire trial on the matter.”

Deri added that in spite of resigning from the Knesset he still plans to lead the Shas party.

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel said that they would appeal the plea deal that allows Deri to still lead the party and return to Knesset in the net election.

The organization said in a statement that “It can’t be that a public figure who committed offenses of this type can return in the future to public positions… This is shameful.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)