Israeli prosecutor Mazuz unafraid of powerful politicians

TEL AVIV | You could call him Israel’s Patrick Fitzgerald.

Like the crusading U.S. federal prosecutor in Chicago, Israeli Attorney General Menachem Mazuz has built a reputation bringing down politicians.

Although he began his five-year term with a controversial decision to abandon corruption allegations against then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Mr. Mazuz has more than compensated by issuing the first corruption indictment against a former prime minister, Ehud Olmert.

As his term comes to a close, he can point to an unprecedented offensive against other politicians suspected of corruption and other abuses, with a scorecard that includes an indictment against a former president, convictions of two former Cabinet members and an indictment against a third.

Mr. Olmert stepped down a year ago amid investigations into charges that he double-billed public agencies for trips, accepted contributions in cash-stuffed envelopes and ignored conflicts of interest in determining government commercial policies. Mr. Olmert has denied the accusations.

Mr. Mazuz’s crusade against corrupt leaders reflects growing outrage in the media and the public over political sleaze.

“He came to power by making [former prime minister] Ariel Sharon kosher. He was chosen to stabilize the system and to overlook corruption, and somehow he’s become a palindrome,” said Gideon Doron, a political science professor at Tel Aviv University. “It reflects the political culture. We’ve become very sensitive about corruption.”

Before Mr. Mazuz leaves office, he’ll decide the political fate of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who the police have recommended be charged with money laundering. Though the minister has denied the charges, he has said he’ll resign if he is indicted.

Observers say Mr. Mazuz’s activism reflects several trends behind the uproar: spreading corruption among public servants, demands in the media and among grass-roots Israelis for more accountability, and a legal establishment that has become more assertive.

While Israeli politicians were once more quick to own up to minor misdeeds, the public and the press were less aggressive then about calling out leaders on wrongdoing.

“The attorney general has been buoyed by public’s increasing intolerance of corruption” said Michael Partem, a lawyer and deputy chairman of Israel’s Movement for Quality Government.

“It’s not the outrage that brings hundreds of thousands of people in the street, but throughout the country you can feel the public wants to hold political leaders to higher standard,” he said.

At a June convention of the Israeli Bar Association, Mr. Mazuz warned of an absence of norms and ethics in Israeli politics and government. Correcting that behavior, he argued, requires long-term cultural change which isn’t the sole responsibility of the law enforcement system.

Still, “the legal system must stand on guard, and if government doesn’t put on its gloves, the legal system must consider intervention,” he said.

The offensive has been relentless. Mr. Mazuz and the Israeli state prosecutor won a corruption case against Mr. Olmert’s finance minister, Avraham Hirschenson, for embezzling money from an umbrella labor union. Another Olmert minister, Haim Ramon, was convicted of sexual harassment. And earlier this month, a Tel Aviv district court began hearing rape charges again former president Moshe Katsav.

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