News Brief19:26 PM

(IsraelNN.com) Kiryat Shemona Mayor Chaim Barbivai was convicted Monday of 13 charges, including forgery, fraud, taking bribes, and breach of trust.  His lawyers said he would appeal the ruling.

The charges related to campaign contributions that Barbivai received from building contractors during the 2003 mayoral elections.  Barbivai served as the head of the local planning and building committee at the time, and was able to grant requests from contractors who donated to his campaign.  Barbivai argues that he was not involved in making financial decisions during the campaign, and did not choose which donations to accept.