State Comptroller and Ombudsman, retired judge Micha Lindenstrauss spoke at a meeting of the Knesset's State Control committee on Tuesday and called for tougher punishment for corrupt politicians. “We need to create deterrence in white-collar criminal cases and in crimes involving breach of trust and fraud,” he said.
Lindenstrauss called on police and the justice system to do more to fight corruption by carrying out speedy investigations and trials. Police must not allow investigations to drag on for months, and senior police officials should be told to process corruption cases quickly, he said.
Corruption probes involving public figures should get priority in the court system, allowing the cases to begin quickly instead of being pushed off for lack of available court dates, Lindenstrauss stated. He also insisted that judges must not be too quick to accept a plea bargain. "There's no argument that sometimes a plea bargain is necessary, but many times the bargain includes a light sentence that sends the message to criminals that it's worth it to [commit a crime and] cut a deal,” he explained.
Attorney General Menachem Mazuz was present at the meeting and echoed Lindenstrauss's call to be tough on corrupt politicians. Law enforcement agencies and courts must work together to fight corruption, he said.
Mazuz added that Israel must fight public corruption through its system of education, its social values and media outlets, he said.