Two apparently serious conflicts of interest involving Judge Theodore Or, the head of the committee for selecting candidates for the next attorney-general, were exposed by news media Thursday.
Maariv-NRG reported that Or's wife, Judge Michaela Shidlovsky-Or, is employed by the court system, based on a decision by Manager of the Courts, Moshe Gal. Gal is officially Judge Theodore Or's preferred candidate for attorney-general. It appears that Or never notified the committee of this link between him and Gal, the report states.
Shidlovsky-Or has retired as a judge and is employed through a personal contract without a tender in the project for computerization of the court system. She reportedly receives a high salary for her services. The contract by which the court system employs here was defined by Gal as a “trust contract” requiring no tender.
A committee member told Maariv that Or never informed the committee of Gal's decision to employ his wife.
The Court Management responded by stating that Judge Shidlovsky-Or is an experienced judge who was involved in the computerization project before her retirement and that her employment conforms with all relevant rules and has all the required approvals. It also said that “Judge Gal did not speak even once with Judge Theodore Or since he appeared before the committee.”
Haaretz reported that Gal did not tell the members of the committee of his efforts to bring about the cancellation of a large lawsuit for compensation against the court system, which deals with a verdict given by Shidlovsky-Or.
The plaintiff in that lawsuit is Attorney Adiel Cheshin, brother of former Supreme Court Judge Mishael Cheshin. He alleged that Shidlovsky-Or took ten years to give a verdict in a case which involved a client of his, who failed to pay him for his services. Cheshin sued the court system for 690,000 shekels.
The Legal Forum for the Land of Israel called upon Judge Or to resign from the committee for selecting candidates for attorney general. "The rules regarding conflict of interests apply to judges, too, as if they were mere mortals," it stated.