Ramat Gan mayor's former spokeswoman sues him for 'years of abuse'

Livnat Nazari, the confidante of Ramat Gan's Mayor Carmel Shama Hacohen in the last few years, is suing him for NIS 730,000, N12's Omir Maniv reported on Tuesday.

The lawsuit, which was filed by lawyer Ohad Mahraz, described injustices allegedly done to Nazari who was "ashamed and hurt for a long time and went through a series of abuse."

Nazari was Shama Hacohen's confidante and spokesperson while she worked as a strategic consultant at the Gitam advertising company. The lawsuit that she filed to the court said that she "was at the front and did all she could to help him during a difficult time, usually with tasks that weren't related to communications."

The lawsuit alleges years of emotional abuse

The lawsuit indicates that Nazari experienced "emotional abuse in the workplace and went around like a ghost." 

One of the injustices allegedly done was about two-and-a-half years ago, when te mayor followed the person he thought was Nazari's partner and waited in the car outside the man's house while his assistant went in without permission and documented the man with a different woman. After that, the photo was sent out in Whatsapp groups in Ramat Gan. All this to supposedly revealed that Nazari's partner was cheating on her.

According to the lawsuit, the incident happened a few days before a municipal tender where Nazari was going to run to be the deputy director-general, but she later withdrew her candidacy.

It further stated that the mayor was "a partner in crime against her and lent a hand to the series of abuse that she was subjected to even afterward."

The lawsuit further claimed that after Nazari met with the municipality's ombudsman and raised her plan to submit a lawsuit against Shama Hacohen, "she received a phone call from someone close to the mayor who told her that if she dares to file the lawsuit, the defendant will burn her reputation."

"This is a manipulative and baseless lawsuit," said Shama Hacohen in a statement. "The claimant exhibited a lack of professionalism and work ethic for an extended amount of time,  and even though the Ramat Gan municipality treated her with charity and mercy, she chose to act against the municipality. This is a desperate attempt to extort public funds that the claimant does not deserve, and we are sure that the court will rule that way too."