This Article is From Feb 07, 2011

Attorney General accused of hiring Indian illegally

Jerusalem: Israel's Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein is to be probed for allegedly employing an illegal Indian migrant worker in his home, a media report has said.

Israel's Population and Immigration Authority is planning to open a criminal investigation against Weinstein and his wife over the allegation, daily Ha'aretz reported.

The Israeli daily had last year published a report accusing the newly appointed Attorney General of having broken the rule by employing an Indian national as a weekly cleaner in his house, without proper permit.

"A worker of Indian origin was indeed employed in the Weinstein house in the past. The worker's employment ended in 2009, before Weinstein was appointed Attorney General. At the time she hired the employee, Mrs Weinstein checked and found that he was a legal worker who was in Israel legally. Beyond that, she did not seek any additional permit," a Justice Ministry official had told the daily then.

The incident can prove to be embarrassing for the Attorney General who had earlier decided to prosecute Nili Priel, the wife of Defence Minister Ehud Barak, for illegally employing a foreign worker for a significant period.

Priel had asked Weinstein to let her pay a fine in lieu of criminal proceedings, but the request was rejected.

Israeli law strictly prohibits anyone without a permit from employing a foreign national. Such permits are issued only in the field of construction, agriculture, certain industries, ethnic restaurants and home nursing care.

Foreign workers cannot be hired to work as cleaners, and only the employer to whom the permit is issued may hire a foreign national.

The Indian national working for the Weinsteins came to Israel more than two years ago with a permit limiting his employment to home health care.

His employment in the home of the Attorney General was clearly unlawful, the Israeli daily claimed.

Individuals close to the worker reportedly said that he spent a full year working once a week for the Weinsteins, and left only when he realised his employer was moving to "a senior government post."

The unnamed Indian told sources that Weinstein, who was a private defence attorney before being appointed as Attorney General, was very kind to him.

A Justice Ministry spokesman claimed that the man was fired a few months before Weinstein became Attorney General, for entirely unrelated reasons, Ha'aretz said. 
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