Fighting graft
Editorial
If you needed some example of the commitment it takes to frontally tackle the menace of corruption as a country, the mid-east nation of Israel lately offered such example. Israeli prosecutors, on Monday, last week, dragged the country’s longest-serving prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, before the courts to answer graft charges bordering on converting the powers of his office to personal advantage. His arraignment came on the heels of an inconclusive election in that country, which beclouded his chances of remaining in office.
Netanyahu, who has been in office as premier continuously since 2009, besides having held the office for several years in the 1990s, was docked at the Jerusalem District Court, following an order by judges that he should appear to face charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. He has dismissed those charges, however, as part of a media and law enforcement “witch hunt” to unseat him and was seen in court, penultimate Monday, quietly conferring with his lawyers.
Prosecutors filed three simultaneous cases of graft against the prime minister in which they accused him of treating favours as “currency.” In their opening statement at the trial, they alleged that he “misused the great governmental power entrusted to him, among other things, to demand and derive improper benefits from owners of key media in Israel, in order to advance his personal affairs,” adding: “The relationship between Netanyahu and the defendants became currency, something that could be traded. The currency could distort a public servant’s judgement.” The first case against the prime minister accuses him of receiving gifts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from wealthy friends. In the second case, he is alleged to have tried to orchestrate positive coverage in a major Israeli newspaper in exchange for curbing the circulation of a tabloid; while the third case alleges that he backed legislation worth hundreds of millions of dollars in favour of an Israeli telecom giant, in return for positive coverage on its news site. At the court trial, there was no preferential treatment whatsoever for Netanyahu’s lawyers as they fought to rebut the allegations against him. Outside the courtroom, dozens of supporters and opponents of the prime minister gathered to protest on opposite sides of the building amid heavy police presence, highlighting deep divisions in the population.
Under Israeli laws, bribery charges carry a prison sentence of up to 10 years and / or fine. Fraud and breach of trust are punishable by up to three years in jail. The law, however, does not require a prime minister to resign while under indictment and Netanyahu has refused to do so. He has clung to power through four hard-fought elections in under two years – the latest poll having held only last month, and also ending in a deadlock.
Netanyahu has a time-honoured reputation for political survival and nothing can be ruled out yet about his chances of defeating the graft charges. But typically in Israel the law takes its course, and should prosecutors get to prove their cases against him, he will inevitably face the music.
The lesson Israel offers is holding all its citizens to account before the law, no matter their position in society. It is a useful lesson we need to learn and imbibe in our own country if the grave threat to our nationhood by the menace of corruption is to be tackled down and ultimately defeated.
In Nigeria, leaders would hide under constitutional immunity to avoid answering before the law to allegations of corruption. For those not covered by the immunity clause, their high positions in society often plays constraining role in any attempt to subject them to harsh scrutiny and eventual retribution of the law. That is no way to win the war against corruption, and there is some lesson to learn from Israel in making every citizen fully and indiscriminately answerable before the law.
