Almost two months after the formation of Israel’s latest government, only nine of its 32 ministers have submitted to the Justice Ministry the preliminary questionnaires that are part of conflict-of-interest agreements that they are obligated to sign, Shomrim has learned. According to the regulations governing such matters, ministers and deputy ministers must submit the questionnaire, which is the first stage in the process, which ends with the publication of their conflict-of-interest agreements within three days of being appointed. For the sake of comparison, it is worth noting that two months after the formation of the previous government, the final conflict-of-interest agreements of seven ministers had been published.

Last week, Shomrim revealed that Economy Minister Nir Barkat, who has placed millions of dollars worth of shares in a blind trust controlled by his brother, is one of the ministers who have yet to submit the preliminary questionnaire. And now it seems he is far from alone. He is also not the only wealthy minister with expansive financial interests serving in the current government. The personal fortune of Tourism Minister Haim Katz, for example, was estimated in 2019 to be 28 million shekels ($7.5 million). Most of that, according to the report, came from his real estate holdings, as well as an investment portfolio which includes a large number of shares in Israeli gas corporation Isramco.

Yitzchak Goldknopf, Israel’s new minister of construction and housing, is also very wealthy. His father, Yehuda Goldknopf, founded the Beit Yaakov network of kindergartens and daycare centers. Goldknopf expanded and developed the network and established additional educational institutions, clinics and rehabilitation centers for children with disabilities. In addition, he owns several properties.

Conflict-of-interest agreements do not deal exclusively with assets and businesses. They also address the question of whether social and familial ties could be a conflict of interest – and many of the ministers are likely to encounter exactly this problem. For example, former Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton reported that her sister-in-law and a close friend are teachers in different schools. She was barred from dealing directly with issues relating to those institutions. Meanwhile, former Justice Minister Gidon Sa’ar was barred from dealing with anything to do with Israel’s public broadcaster Kan, since his wife, Geula Even-Sa’ar, worked there during that period.

The Rules are Designed to Limit Personal and Familial Interests

The rules for the prevention of conflicts of interest by ministers and deputy ministers, published in 2002, were based on a report by Justice Asher. The text of the document states that “the minister is obliged to conduct his affairs in a manner that will not create and will not have a conflict of interest between his duties as a minister and his personal affairs.” A minister is expected to spend all of his time and energy on his government role and not to deal with any other business or hold any other position. The document also states that “in any event where the minister has a personal interest in actions or decisions that may influence the granting of a benefit or right, he is prohibited from participating in any way in the action or decision making.” Moreover, the rules place limitations on the minister’s relatives, who are his dependents.

Drawing up conflict-of-interest agreements is a relatively lengthy process, which often involves much toing and froing between the minister and the attorney general. According to the regulations, the newly appointed minister must fill in a questionnaire designed to identify any potential cases of conflict of interest. The minister must declare that he has completed the questionnaire accurately and with all the required information, including any information reflected in their deflation to the state comptroller. They must also declare that, beyond the issues reported, they are unaware of any other personal matter that raises conflict of interest concerns. According to the regulations, the questionnaire must be submitted to the attorney general as quickly as possible and “as far as possible, within 30 days of the minister assuming office.”

The regulations stipulate that the deputy attorney general will examine the questionnaires and any other information submitted to the state comptroller. Then, “if it becomes clear that a personal matter of the minister impacts his ministerial activity or that of his ministry, the deputy attorney general will draft of a legal opinion, in which he will detail the powers and roles of the minister which could create a conflict of interests, and, as needed, the next steps to be taken by the deputy attorney general will be decided on.”

That draft is sent to the minister for comments via the ministry’s legal adviser. A minister is entitled to submit comments or reservations about the opinion and the attorney general will make amendments as needed, but until the legal opinion is finalized, the deputy attorney general’s draft is considered legally binding. According to the regulation, “if there are disagreements over the draft of the opinion, the attorney general will have the final say and will instruct the deputy attorney general as to the final wording.” Once the final opinion is submitted, the attorney general will approach the ministry “to ascertain whether there is any information in the opinion that needs to be redacted before it is published.” Only after that is the conflict-of-interest agreement published on the Justice Ministry website.

So far, less than one-third of the currently serving ministers have submitted the questionnaire, which starts the process. Thus far, not a single conflict-of-interest agreement for any of the ministers in the current government has been published by the Justice Ministry.