Judge Hagai Brenner (Tel Aviv District Court) engaged in fraud on the court in the case of Moshe Silman. Judge Eitan Orenstein (Tel Aviv District Court) engaged in fraud on the court in the case of Nochi Dankner. Integrity of conduct of Judges Esther Hayut and Asher Grunis (Supreme Court) in a petition addressing judicial corruption remains questionable...
May 6, Occupy Tel-Aviv - papers filed in the Supreme Court yesterday, document the conduct of simulated litigation - fraud on the court - by Judge Eitan Orenstein in the IDB default case in the Tel Aviv District Court last week. In the largest financial institution default case in the history of the State of Israel, debt holders, who are financial institutions were allowed to participate in the charade, but representatives of bond holders and the Regulator of Financial Markets in the Ministry of Treasury were excluded. In such proceedings, no summonses were issued or executed, no attorney filed certificate of power of attorney, the case was terminated with no judgment or dispositive order, and public access to court records is unlawfully denied. At the end, tycoon Nochi Dankner was permitted to continue managing his fraudulent corporate pyramid scheme. [1]
The case of the IDB default and Judge Eitan Orenstein is the latest in a series of cases, filed with the Supreme Court in a petition, which documents unprecedented judicial corruption of the Israeli courts over the past decade. Another notable case of simulated litigation - fraud on the court - which was filed with the Supreme Court in the same petition, is the case of self-immolated, social protest activist Moshe Silman. Silman too was subjected to a charade in the Tel Aviv District Court - by Judge Hagai Brenner. In litigation against the Social Security administration, Attorney (retired judge) Sarah Frisch, who appeared on behalf of the Social Security, and the Social Security administration refuse to answer - who was attorney of record for Social Security in the case. Magistrate Hagai Brenner denied Silman's complaint against Social Security, and Pro Tem District Judge Hagai Brenner denied Silman's appeal from Brenner's own decision. In Silman's case as well, the Tel Aviv District Court unlawfully denies public access to court records. [2]
In the opening lines of his last letter, Silman correctly described such conduct as denial of access to justice and violation of the law with impunity.
Together, the two cases, of Nochi Dankner and Moshe Silman, both in the Tel Aviv District Court, vividly document the central role of judicial corruption in the socio-economic changes seen in Israel over the past decade, including dramatic increase in poverty and widening economic gaps.
The petition in the Supreme Court, details the two above cases ans others. The petition was filed with the Supreme Court on April 15, 2013, and names Minister of Justice Tzipi Livni and Director of the Courts Michael Spitzer as respondents. The petition claims that the Ministry of Justice and the Administration of the Courts colluded over the past decade in the implementation of fraudulent computerized record systems in the courts, which are central instruments in enabling such conduct. [2]
The protest letters were directly addressed to Presiding Justice Asher Grunis, since for over a decade there is no lawfully appointed Chief Clerk in the Supreme Court of the State of Israel (the same is true for the Tel Aviv District Court, where there is no lawfully appointed Chief Clerk for over two years).
Beyond documenting individual cases of judicial corruption in various courts, the petition shows that starting in 2004, the Administration of the Courts was permitted by then Minister of Justice Tommy Lapid, to alter the Regulations of the Courts in an unspecified manner, as part of implementation of the new generation of computerized system in the courts, with no public notice. Today, the Regulations of the Courts in Israel are confidential...
The petition also documents that with the implementation of the latest generation of computerized systems of the courts, the duties and obligations of the Chief Clerks, relative to integrity of courts records, was undermined. Today, falsification of of court records by judges is a widespread problem, widely reported in the cases of Judge Vardah AlSheikh and former Judge Hilah Cohen, and also noted in the latest report of the Ombudsman of the Judiciary.
By now, there is perhaps no Chief Clerk in any of the Israeli courts (including the Supreme Court), who holds a lawful appointment record. At the same time, the Chief Clerks refuse to certify any court records, or authenticate the service of court decisions.
Whether the petition in the Supreme Court would be accorded due process, remains questionable: [3,4]
- The Supreme Court has used its own computerized system to undermine the integrity of the records in the petition - the court refuses to register the filing of the petition opening record.
- Supreme Court Justice Esther Hayut "released" a decision on a request that the office of the clerk of the Supreme Court refused to accept.
- After two letters to Supreme Court Presiding Justice Asher Grunis over the past tow weeks, asking that he ensure honest registration of records in the petition, the Supreme Court continues to engage in false and deliberately misleading registration of the records.
Conduct of the Supreme Court in the petition also demonstrates that Israeli judges (like their counterparts in the US and elsewhere) are not ready, willing, able to address their own corruption.
Reform must be imposed on the courts. Addressing judicial corruption should be one of the primary objectives of the Israeli social protest movement.
Joseph Zernik, PhD
Human Rights Alert (NGO)
Occupy Tel Aviv Encampment
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* The Human Rights Alert submission was incorporated into the 2010 Periodic Report of the UN regarding Human Rights in the United States with a note: "Corruption of the courts and the legal profession in California".
* The Human Rights Alert submission was incorporated into the 2013 Periodic Report of the UN regarding Human Rights in Israel with a note: "Lack of integrity in the electronic records of the Supreme Court, the district courts and the detainees courts in Israel".
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LINKS:
[1] 13-05-05 Zernik v Minister of Justice and Director of the Courts (2689/13) in the Israeli Supreme Court – additional evidence of corruption in the Tel Aviv District Court – Hermatic v IDB (36681-04-13) (Hebrew and English translation)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/139550208/
[2] 13-04-15 Dr Zernik v Justice Minister Livni and Director of Administration of the Courts Spitzer (2689/13) – Petition in the High Court of Justice of the State of Israel (Hebrew with English translation))
http://www.scribd.com/doc/136215148/
[3] 13-04-18 Zernik v Minister of Justice et al (2689/13) in the Israeli Supreme Court – letter No 1 to Presiding Justice of the Israeli Supreme Court
http://www.scribd.com/doc/136732687/
[4] 13-05-02 Zernik v Minister of Justice et al (2689/13) in the Israeli Supreme Court – Request No 2 to Presiding Justice - for honest registration, alternatively - refund of filing fees
http://www.scribd.com/doc/139556302/
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