Seven and a half years after fleeing Israel for Peru, former Israeli Judge Dan Cohen − suspected of receiving millions of dollars in bribes − is expected to return. Haaretz has learned that last weekend, Peruvian authorities decided to extradite him.
In recent months, the State Prosecutor’s Office has been conducting advanced negotiations with Cohen’s lawyers regarding the fugitive’s return to Israel.
Just days before being arrested, Cohen assumed he would be spending Passover in Lima with his family, who planned to make a special trip there to see him.
He told family and friends on the phone that he was sure it would take several more weeks to conclude negotiations. “There’s no way they will turn me in,” he said confidently to a friend at the start of the week, unaware of the dramatic developments that were about to transpire.
Now, after having been turned in, Cohen has lost much of the power he had in trying to reach a plea bargain from across the ocean.
Now, after having been turned in, Cohen has lost much of the power he had in trying to reach a plea bargain from across the ocean.
In August 2005, Cohen, 71, went to Ben-Gurion International Airport, boarded a plane to Peru and never came back.
He is an elite prosecutor, a former Be’er Sheva district judge and a former member of the board of directors of the Israel Electric Corporation. He is accused of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes, as well as obstruction of justice for fleeing the country.
He is an elite prosecutor, a former Be’er Sheva district judge and a former member of the board of directors of the Israel Electric Corporation. He is accused of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes, as well as obstruction of justice for fleeing the country.
He allegedly pocketed some $2.8 million and more than 1 million euros for exerting his influence on the Israel Electric Corporation on behalf of the German conglomerate Siemens and the Israeli Rogozin Industries on three separate occasions.
For years, Israel invested great efforts to try and extradite the former judge. From time to time, senior representatives of the State Prosecutor’s Office were sent to try and convince the Peruvians to help track Cohen down.
The Israeli Embassy in Peru, including former Ambassador Walid Mansour, a close friend of the fugitive judge, also contributed to the effort.
In August 2009, Cohen finished a Spanish class he was taking at the Catholic University in Lima and walked to a nearby cafe.
He was arrested at the entrance by two Interpol officials and notified he was under arrest and that Israel was demanding his extradition. The Supreme Court in Lima approved Israel’s request, although Cohen decided to fight it.
He sat in a Peruvian jail for three months and another year and a half under house arrest, while his Peruvian attorneys were submitting appeals against the decision to extradite him.
At the end of a rare and nerve-wracking process, the courts approved the extradition process − but without any explanation, Alan Garcia, the Peru’s president, decided to repeal the decision and let him stay in the country.
Many believe this was due to his close relationship between Garcia and Israeli tycoon Baruch Ivcher, considered one of South America’s most powerful people.
A few months after the Peruvian president saved Cohen from extradition, his attorneys turned to State Prosecutor Moshe Lador and asked to begin negotiations that would ensure Cohen’s return to Israel − however, Lador did not want to hear it. “The State Prosecutor’s Office seems me as a combination between Mengele and Eichmann,” Cohen once said to one of his Israeli friends.
Cohen managed to get attorney Ram Caspi to convince Lador that this time it was serious, and at the end of negotiations, Cohen would sit in an Israeli jail. Since then, negotiations began between Cohen’s attorney Eitan Maoz and attorney Liat Ben Ari, which are expect to conclude soon.
By fleeing to Peru, Cohen proved his legal shrewdness, as the two countries are not signed onto an extradition agreement. This is how one of the biggest players in one of Israel’s biggest bribery schemes ever has managed to get away and remain at large.
For years, Israel invested great efforts in trying to extradite the former judge. From time to time, senior representatives of the State Prosecutor’s Office were sent to try and convince the Peruvians to help track Cohen down. The Israeli Embassy in Peru also contributed to the efforts.
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