Shlomi Lahiani took his place at the head of the table in the conference room, as if it were the conference room of the Bat Yam municipality and not his lawyers'. Around him sat his lawyers, Giora Aderet and Nati Simhoni, and the lawyers of the other defendants in the case.
Lahiani began to lead the discussion, what could be more natural for him than that?.
He explained to everyone that he had no intention of taking the plea deal his lawyers had reached for him. One of those present in the room told me that Attorney Aderet, a normally reserved man, had almost lost his mind.
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He said (shouted?) to him something along the lines of – you will now sit down and listen to what each of the people here has to say. One after another, the lawyers began to explain to Lahian what a dream deal had been reached for him. The bribery charges were dropped, the money laundering disappeared, the prosecution would demand a maximum of one year in prison, and the defense 3 months.
Each of them must have been rolling the horror scenario in their heads – he would reject the deal and become a 2nd rater.
After what David Rosen did to Olmert, God knows how this will end. In the end, Lahiani gave in and took the plea deal.
At the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court this morning, the judge turned the dream plea deal into the closest thing to an acquittal that Hayani could have dreamed of.
True, he will have to say goodbye to public life for the next 7 years (unless his lawyers appeal and manage to reduce it to less than three months in prison), but he is young and when he returns (and he will), he will be able to quote excerpts from Judge Benny Sagi's verdict in his campaign.
How successful a mayor he is (not debatable), how he took responsibility for his sins and what good deeds he did as a person (did).
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One word about taking responsibility. Judge Sagi attached a lot of weight to the fact that Lahianni confessed and regretted his actions.
This is one of the main reasons why he did not send Lahiani to prison.
I have no particular desire to see Lahiani in prison, but this argument is a bit far-fetched. For years, Lahiani denied, lied, blamed the police, mocked them and the journalists who wrote about him, and persecuted the opposition in the city.
I suggest that Judge Sagi speak to the prosecution witness Maurice Levy, one of the only two building inspectors in the city of Bat Yam (is it a coincidence that the municipality allocates so little manpower to enforce planning and building laws?). Mr. Levy will surely be able to tell him about the calls from my father to Lahiani, Shlomi's brother, about the pressure campaign exerted on him by senior city officials close to Lahiani, and the attempts to fire him because he told the truth to the police.
Levy will surely be able to explain to the judge how he manages to hold onto his position only thanks to the intervention of the State Comptroller's Office, which was also achieved with blood, sweat, and tears.
Is this what you call taking responsibility? Regret? Shame, maybe. I also hope that Judge Sagi heard the short statement he read to Hayani from the reporter (or rather, from his cell phone) for the cameras immediately after the verdict.
There was no remorse or any taking of responsibility. If anything, quite the opposite.
In the sentence, the judge acknowledged that for most of the investigation period (the time the case spent at the prosecutor's office is almost unforgivable), Lahiani did not exactly repent and ask for forgiveness, but he still attached great importance to the fact that he eventually reached a settlement.
What did the judge expect? That Lahiani would reject the gift given to him by the prosecutor's office? The fact that Lahiani agreed to accept a gift from the prosecutor's office means that he deserves another reward from the judge? Is Judge Sagi aware of the power of Lahiani's lies during his interrogation? What will be the impact of this super-lenient sentence on everyone who dared to fight the real estate corruption of Lahiani and his family in Bat Yam?
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I'm guessing that when Chayani read that statement to the press, he hadn't even realized how lucky he was. It must have been a statement he wrote before the reading and forgot to update.
If I were in his place, I would call the lawyers Aderet and Shimoni and tell them in the deliberately vulgar, vernacular language – if your mother, now tell me the truth – what did you do to the plaintiff Sharon Kahane, that she agreed to this arrangement? And how did you convince the judge, who was not considered a seignorial, after the Holyland case and the Tax Authority case, to go to community service?
It would be better if he accompanied his questions with some kind of fat bonus check (when it comes to Lahian, this is a sore point).
From Raviv Drucker's website: http://drucker10.net/?p=2391
