
Supreme Court Justice Yitzhak Amit, who is a candidate for the position of Chief Justice, was party to a number of legal processes surrounding a property he owns in Tel Aviv, but used his former last name - Goldfriend - in the cases, Yediot Aharonot reported.
According to the report, Amit did not report the processes as required to the court management, and simultaneously sat as judge in cases in which the attorneys who represented him also represented one of the sides to the case.
The processes in question are connected to a property which Amit holds together with his brother, and which is slated for redevelopment. In 2019, the Tel Aviv municipality filed a criminal indictment against the owners of the property, including Amit, due to safety concerns. Later, the municipality withdrew the indictment against Amit.
In a number of legal processes, Amit appears under the name "Goldfriend," as is written in the Tabu directory of property ownership. However, according to Amit, this was done innocently and without him being aware of it.
Throughout the years, Amit did not report his involvement in personal legal proceedings to the Supreme Court's Chief Justice, as is required. In addition, he did not add the attorneys representing him to the list of lawyers whose cases he cannot judge, creating a potential situation of conflicts of interest in the cases he judges.
A spokesperson for the Judicial Authority responded: "Justice Amit was only made aware of the existence of the proceedings mentioned following the submission of an inquiry (other than the crime of a fine, as detailed). Regardless, Justice Amit did not know about the existence of any connection between these processes and the judges or laywers mentioned in the inquiry."
"Regarding the matter of perceived 'concealment,' the reason that Justice Amit appears in legal proceedings under his former last name (Goldfriend) is that apparently the information on owners used for the court documents was taken from the Tabu listings, where Justice Amit appears under that last name. In the general power of attorney and notary documents given by the Justice to his brother, it is clearly written 'Yitzhak Amit' (and not 'Yitzhak Goldfriend'), such that the claim that Justice Amit 'hid' his identity is insane, lacking any reasonability, and completely empty. Regarding the signature, Justice Amit's brother signed in his stead, using the power of attorney granted to him."
"In light of the above, it i clear that Justice Amit did not have any knowledge regarding the judges to which the processes, which he did not know about at all, were directed," the statement concluded.
The Tel Aviv municipality responded: "An indictment was filed on February 7, 2019, against the owners of property in a building on Eilat Street 18 for not fulfilling the demand to carry out work to remove dangerous construction from the building. After the work was carried out, the indictment was cancelled by a court decision on January 21, 2020.