After the High Court hearing in which it was revealed that funds were being transferred illegally as part of "common practice," Knesset Counsel, Attorney Sagit Afik, presented a demand to the Ministry of Finance: Send us as soon as possible a breakdown of all cases in which you transferred money without the approval of the Finance Committee in the last five years.
This is a sharp and unusual letter sent by the Knesset Attorney General to the Attorney General of the Ministry of Finance, Attorney David Kopel, immediately after the High Court hearing that took place on Thursday, which dealt with the transfer of a billion shekels to Haredi institutions that do not teach core subjects, as part of a petition filed by Yesh Atid.
The state's response revealed that the funds were transferred before the discussion in the Finance Committee, whose members were not even aware of the budget transfer.
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During the hearing in the High Court, the state representative admitted that most of the funds were transferred illegally and that this was a "common practice," in which the Finance Committee's approval only takes place retrospectively - which aroused great anger among legal counsel.
Due to the fact that it was claimed in the discussion that this is a "common practice", the Knesset Advocate General demands that all information regarding this practice be transferred to her, including budgets that were approved by the Finance Committee retrospectively, after the funds had already been transferred in advance and without approval.
Attorney Afik demands the information for the last five years as soon as possible.
She said, "I must point out, as someone who previously served for about 15 years as the Finance Committee's legal counsel, and as Attorney Shlomit Erlich - the Finance Committee's legal counsel who has served in this position for five years, that over the years this unprofitable practice was not reflected on in the Knesset, and similarly, no information was provided regarding budgetary transfers that were made in advance before the Finance Committee's approval was given for them, not in the budget requests themselves, not in the explanatory statements to them, not in the financial deficiencies that were completed (in cases of need), and not even within the framework of the committee's discussions.".
She added: "Since the matter has only now come to our attention, and even then only following petitions filed on the matter, we are considering our steps in this context, both in relation to the future and in relation to the past.".
