Multiple properties attributed to minister under investigation

In the last election, Shas leader Aryeh Deri presented himself as the representative of the "transparent" people (the poor) and the homeless -- those whose interests are normally underrepresented in the government. But at the same time, questions arose about the many homes that Deri himself allegedly owns. On the eve of the election, Deri declared that he owns only one apartment -- on Har Nof Street in Jerusalem -- worth about 4.7 million shekels ($1.2 million). In total, he estimated his entire net worth at 4.8 million shekels ($1.3 million), including the apartment.

But a series of recent investigative media reports have found the Deri and his family allegedly own many more properties. The reports indicate, among other things, that most of Deri's children have apartments. They also found that Deri allegedly sold a plot of land in the Givat Shaul neighborhood of Jerusalem to his brother, a contractor, a few years ago. An apartment building belonging to the Deri family was built on the land, and the individual apartments are allegedly designated to various family members.

Additionally, Channel 2 reported on Wednesday that a large private home in the northern town of Safsufa is used as a vacation home by the Deri family. Barak Sari, Deri's spokesperson, said in response that "the house is under his daughter's name, but it belongs to the whole family. They are a large ultra-Orthodox family -- they don't go on vacations abroad, so they bought a home in an inexpensive area and everyone helped pay for it to avoid paying the cost to rent expensive vacation cottages. They spend time there during the holidays."

In an interview with Haaretz newspaper last year, when asked about the home in Safsufa, Deri replied: "I am proud that, thank God, I have an income and a home, and that my children have homes. Thank God. I know that people naturally expect to see us like the people I represent, but all my property is out in the open and transparent. I did what I did during a time that I was not working in politics."

Later in the interview, Deri got upset with journalist Gidi Weitz, saying, "I did not plan to be interviewed by the Israel Police Anti-Fraud Unit."

Meanwhile, last October, independent journalist Tomer Avital reported in his "100 Days of Transparency" project published by Haaretz that Deri's daughter owns an apartment in Jerusalem and is a part-owner of an apartment in Tel Aviv. Another one of his daughters owns the rest of the Tel Aviv apartment as well as another home, the report found. It also found that Deri's son has an apartment in Jerusalem, while another three Tel Aviv apartments are under one of his daughter's names. His other son was found to be a part-owner of an apartment in Jerusalem.

Sources close to Deri told the media that he made his fortune during the time that he was not working as a public servant, and that he used his knowledge and skills to make the money that would allow him to acquire real estate.

Deri's office responded to recent reports with a statement: "Minister Aryeh Deri and his wife own only one apartment in Jerusalem, where he has lived with his family for many years.

"This attempt to tie Deri to apartments owned by other family members, including children and in-laws, is a harmful, unfair, wrong and misleading attempt to defame Minister Deri."

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