Former Knesset lawmaker indicted on charges of fraud and forgery

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The Economic Department of the State Attorney’s Office on Wednesday filed an indictment in the Nazareth Magistrate’s Court against former lawmaker Haneen Zoabi and 12 other defendants, some of them former senior officials of the Balad party, who plead guilty to attempting to intentionally commit fraud and forgery.

Zoabi, along with other Balad party members, allegedly accepted 3.2 million shekels ($970,000) in campaign donations from abroad, concealing the transactions from the State Comptroller’s Office using false receipts in 2013. The donations were used for Balad’s Knesset campaign and local elections in the same year.

According to the plea agreement, the defendants, including Zoabi, will petition the imposition of agreed upon sentences, including prison sentences which in practice will be community service, public benefit work, probation and fines ranging from NIS 25,000 to NIS 75,000.

Zoabi was questioned along with about 35 other suspects, including former senior in the Balad party, on suspicion of committing forgery and fraud in connection to documents submitted by the party to the State Comptroller, in two election campaigns in 2013.

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The indictment was filed by attorneys from the Economic Department of the State Attorney’s Office after Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit decided to prosecute Zoabi and the other defendants.