High Court Justices Yael Wilner, Alex Stein, and Gila Kanfi-Steinitz today (Tuesday) discussed petitions regarding the investigation into the affair of former MP Yifat Tomer Yerushalmi, and called on the parties to reach an agreed compromise that would prevent a decision by the High Court.
The High Court judges, who were required to decide who would investigate the affair, ruled that the State Attorney's Office, as demanded by Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, and the retired judge Asher Kola, appointed by Justice Minister Yariv Levin, are barred from engaging in the investigation.
Because of this, Supreme Court Justice Yael Wilner suggested this afternoon to the attorneys for the parties in the petitions to reach an agreed-upon arrangement that would prevent a decision by the High Court.
Judge Wilner offered three alternatives for who would accompany the proceedings:
• You will appoint us as to who will oversee the investigation, and it will be from among the serving district judges, a senior district judge who specializes in criminal matters.
• The parties will reach an agreement and a retired Supreme Court judge will be appointed.
• A senior official from the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Competition Authority will be appointed.
Supreme Court Justice Yael Wilner said: "This is a difficult and legally complex case. Who is appointed, how is he appointed? Difficult questions. There is also a public interest here, this is a dramatic public affair. Each of the parties has legal difficulties from our perspective. The minister has difficulty in appointing the commissioner and there is a prohibition in the law that prohibits him. There is a difficulty regarding a minister's intervention in a criminal investigation in a democratic country. Politicians should stay out of criminal investigations.
""On the other hand, there is difficulty in the Attorney General appointing who will replace her. She has an interest in who will be appointed to accompany her. There is difficulty in appointing all the senior officials of the Attorney General's Office.".
""I appeal to you - this is the time to reach an agreed arrangement and not a decision. We are publicly begging you to reach agreements. We have reached a point of impasse. An unequivocal decision will appease the public. Discuss until white smoke comes out. We will wait for you here at 5:00 PM, even until 6:00 PM and even until 7:00 PM and more. Just reach an agreement.".
High Court judges: "Meet downstairs. There's good coffee.".
Lawyers: "The coffee is not something...""
It was agreed that the parties would discuss the proposal and return to the High Court at 5:00 PM.
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