Former Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski was sentenced to six years in prison on Thursday, just under three months after he was convicted of bribery charges in the Holyland corruption trial. In his ruling, Tel Aviv District Court Judge David Rozen said Lupolianski, as deputy mayor of Jerusalem during the 1990s, accepted more than NIS 2 million ($580,000) from real estate developers seeking to expedite the construction of the gargantuan Holyland residential complex in Jerusalem. Lupolianski played a crucial role in approving various construction projects because he was also the chairman of the municipal planning committee that granted zoning permits in Jerusalem. Lupolianski funneled most of the money -- about NIS 1.6 million ($464,000) -- to a charity he founded, Yad Sarah, and another NIS 40,000 ($11,000) was transferred to a yeshiva headed by his son. He also used hundreds of thousands of shekels to pay for the construction of a synagogue and the purchase of a sanctuary and furniture for the congregants. Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was mayor of Jerusalem at the time, was also convicted of bribery and sentenced to six years in prison over his role in the Holyland affair. Lupolianski succeeded Olmert as mayor in 2003, when Olmert was appointed a cabinet minister. Lupolianski asked the judge to exercise leniency on the grounds that he has cancer. But Rozen, who relied in part on the opinion of the Israel Prison Service's medical staff, said the former deputy mayor's health condition should not be an obstacle to his imprisonment as long as the prison can attend to his medical needs. "In light of the state's clear-cut views on the matter ... I have decided that the defendant's failed health does not make it imperative to keep him out of prison," Rozen said. Rozen also issued a one-year suspended sentence, to stay in effect for the next three years, and levied a fine of NIS 500,000 ($145,000) that can be converted to an additional eight-month prison sentence.
Former Jerusalem mayor gets 6 years in jail for bribery
Uri Lupolianski, the capital's deputy mayor under Ehud Olmert in the 1990s and mayor from 2003 to 2008, receives jail sentence despite failing health • Lupolianski found guilty in Holyland trial of taking bribes from real estate developers.
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