Holyland Case

[4][7] In 1996, the journalist Yoav Yitzchak claimed that Hillel Charney, the developer of the project, had obtained a false assessment of the value of the land, which had substantial tax benefits.

[8] Based on guidance from the Attorney General, a criminal investigation was launched against the Commissioner of Income Tax, Doron Levy, and his deputy Udi Barzilay.

In the summer of 2008, Yoav Yitzchak revealed additional suspicions of misconduct in the project, alleging that the developers had bribed the mayor of Jerusalem, Ehud Olmert.

[8] This was followed by a "draft statement of claim" prepared by businessman Schmuel Dachner, who was employed as a real estate consultant and broker by the Holyland project.

On January 5, 2012, the State Attorney's Office for the District Court in Tel Aviv filed an indictment against 17 defendants, on counts of giving or receiving bribes.

The defendants included the prime minister and former mayor Ehud Olmert, Hillel Charney, and Avigdor Kellner, Danny Dankner the deputy chairman of Bank Hapoalim, Meir Rabin, who had worked as an assistant to Schmuel Dachner, Uri Shitrit, former mayor of Jerusalem Uri Lupolianski, Olmert's former Chief of Staff Shula Zaken, and Jacob Efrati, who headed the Israel Lands Administration.

The prosecutors said that the corruption was not an isolated incident, but was part of established business practice, with bribery being used to subvert the planning process by changing zoning laws, overcoming opposition by citizens' groups and enabling violations of construction and pollution regulations.

On March 31, 2014, at the end of a trial involving 140 sessions held over two years, Tel Aviv District Court judge David Rosen convicted 10 of the 13 accused and acquitted Yaakov Efrati, the Israel Lands Administration, Amnon Safran and Shimon Galon, former executives at Holyland Park.