Mayor, gov't officials among 10 arrested on severe corruption charges
Among those involved were two senior figures in local government regional councils, the mayor of a city in the North, the CEO of a large contracting firm and an assistant to a minister.
By ALEX WINSTON, YONAH JEREMY BOBTHE ISRAEL POLICE conducts its high-level investigations through Lahav 433, the country’s ‘FBI,’ headquartered in this building in Lod.(photo credit: WIKIPEDIA)
Police arrested 10 suspects on Monday morning and detained nine others for questioning on suspicion of involvement in bribery, fraudulent receipt of funds, money laundering, income tax offenses and other financial crimes.Many of the suspected crimes relate to corruption in paving and funding the paving of new roads as well as removing old structures to make room for new ones in the Sharon region.Among those involved were two senior figures in local government regional councils, the mayor of a city in the North, the CEO of a large contracting firm and an assistant to a minister.Some of the suspicions also relate to documents seized from the Environmental Ministry, but a statement by police was vague on specifics and did not seem to suggest any kind of widespread corruption within the ministry.While there are no suspicions against Likud ministers or the Likud as a party, multiple reports indicated that some of the suspects had connections to Likud ministers and one of the regional council suspects is considered a Likud powerhouse.There is an ongoing trial associated with Yisrael Beytenu and an ongoing case against Balad.The arrests follow a months-long undercover investigation by officers of the National Financial Investigations Unit, Lahav 433, in conjunction with the Central District Attorney’s criminal department.As part of the investigation, it was suspected that senior civil servants, along with others, allegedly committed corruption offenses involving influential companies and government institutions.The findings of the investigation show that the suspects committed offenses of influencing decision makers in governmental positions with bribes in an attempt to advance their business affairs.
