Former Histadrut labor federation leader Avraham Hirschson told the court in his fraud/bribery trial that he was in need of some monetary assistance, explaining his life style was not at all extravagant.

The prosecution on the other hand paints a  different picture, saying at times, he helped himself to NI 60,000 monthly of the labor federation’s funds. The prosecution also rejected the defendant’s attempt to portray his lifestyle as modest, showing that in a four month period in 2002, his credit card charges were over NIS 40,000 a month, and during the same period, the state documented he regularly received cash-stuffed envelopes at his home, more labor federation funds to satisfy his modest lifestyle.

The state told the court that during the “modest lifestyle period,” Hirschson traveled abroad regularly, purchased jewelry and electronics in excess. The prosecution also asked the former labor chief and government minister what he did with the approximately NIS 1.5 million in cash envelopes that he took over the years.

Hirschson’s attorney Yaakov Weinrot maintains the cash-filled envelopes were legal, part of an agreement between his client and the labor federation. “I was foolish to take cash but I can account for every agora, it was all in accordance to the agreement”, stated Hirschson.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)