“I deposited money in the bank accounts of Avraham Hirschson, in Bank Discount and Bank Yahav. In the Histadrut (Labor Federation) they told me push money into Avraham’s accounts,” state witness Shlomo Aruas testified on Sunday in the Tel Aviv District Court trial of former labor federation leader and finance minister, Avraham Hirschson.
 
Hirschson is alleged to have stolen NIS 4 million, of which NIS 2 – 2.5 million found its way into his private bank accounts.
 
Aruas, a Ramle resident, was employed as a messenger in the Histadrut for over 20 years. He would routinely cash checks which he received from his superiors and make deposits into Hirschson’s banks accounts on the average of once every two weeks, for a period of three to four years. He also testified that on occasion, he would travel to Hirschson’s home and give his housekeepers envelopes.
 
He told the court that he was not made aware of the contents of the envelopes, but stated one of the people who sent him on such missions was Ovadia Cohen, the labor federation’s chief financial officer. Last week, Cohen admitting to stealing NIS 10 million of the union’s money, leading to a plea bargain agreement that includes a 56-month prison sentence.
 
Aruas also told the court that in February 2005, after 22 years of employment, they stopped sending him on missions to deliver money, telling him to hang around, explaining there are virtually no more deliveries required.
 
“They trampled on me. They placed me in charge of a storage room for cleaning supplies. I finally quit” he explained.
 
Aruas’ testimony joins that of Ronit Gerti, a longtime labor union bookkeeper. In return for her cooperation, she was sentenced to six month of community service.
 
Gideon Ben-Tzur, a senior accountant for the federation is also cooperating. He told authorities he would prepare brown envelopes containing NIS 30,000-35,000 in cash for “the big man”.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)