12-10-14 Dispatch from Jerusalem: Corruption of judges and attorneys, chicken and the egg?

I often wondered, which came first, judicial corruption, prosecutorial corruption, or widespread corruption of the legal profession. Now, watching earlier stages of government corruption in the State of Israel, the answer is - the judges are at the cutting edg!

1) Israel Police Chief calls upon the State Prosecution to appeal the partial acquittal of Former Prime Minister Olmert on corruption charges.

Haaretz daily reports that the Chief of Police is pressuring the State Prosecution to appeal the unusual rulings that came from the Jerusalem District Court.  Olmert was convicted on Breach of Loyalty, but was acquitted in two other corruption charges, where the District Court accepted the basic facts presented by the State Prosecution. E.g., his loyal secretary received in his bureau envelopes full of hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash from various interested persons.

Today's Haaretz editorial on a related matter counts the output of top government convictions in recent years - 1 (one) President and 6 (six) Cabinet Ministers.

US comparison: In the United States, no such person would ever be prosecuted.

2) Pressure mounts on the Israel Bar Association to cease its demands for the removal from the bench of Tel Aviv District Court Judge (Deputy Presiding Judge) Vardah AlSheikh

Judge AlSheikh (the equivalent of Jed Rakoff in USDC, SDNY) handles many of the heaviest corporate and financial regulation cases.  In one such case, she was caught falsifying court transcripts.  She did it for a purpose: To file a disciplinary complaint against an attorney, who appeared before her, and challenged her decisions.  

So far, the Bar's requests to have AlSheikh removed from the bench were denied by: a) The newly minted Presiding Justice of the Supreme Court, and b) The Instpectro General of the Judiciary.  Needless to say, both are judges themselves.  Moreover, since data mining studies show that falsification of electronic records is now commonplace in the courts of the State of Israel, it is also clear, why no judicial authority could impose sanctions on Judge AlSheikh for such conduct.  The Bar was reported to have taken the case before the Minsiter of Justice, although in my opinion, he is the least likely to take any actions against corruption.  Other reports suggest that pressure is mounting on the Bar to cease its demands in this matter.

It should be noted, that the Israel Bar Association did not pick this fight because of the Fraud on the Court per se, but because of the attempt to harm an attorney.

US comparison: Any bar association in the US calling for the removal of a judge from the bench is unheard of.

3) An attorney protested the falsification of his client's court records in the Detainees' Court

In a case that was reported a couple of years ago, a judge in the Detainees' Courts (administered by the Ministry of Justice) was caught falsifying court records regarding proceeding that never took place, and planting a simulated court order, as resulting from such proceeding.  The harmed client's attorney reported it to the press!  The spokesperson of the Ministry of Justice responded: "A tempest in a teapot".  No sactions taken against the perpetrating judge.

US comparison:  Attorney challenging falsification of court records by a judge is unhread of. Even Richard Fine, who challenged judicial corruption, refused to address the falsification of judicial records in his own imprisonment, when he was finally made aware of it.  Challenging the integrity of the court's record system itself by attorney is unheard of.  

JZ

P.S.

Middle Eastern Intrigues follow up

Lebanese media reported yesterday that the top financial officer of Hizballah escaped to Israel carrying a large sum of money, classified records, and maps.  He is a communication engineer, and also headed the communication networks of Hizballah.  Investigations continue in Lebanon of massive infiltration by Israeli agents of cellular and other communication networks in Lebanon.