BREAKING NEWS

Mayor of Ramat Gan investigated for tax offenses for 8 hours

The mayor of Ramat Gan, Carmel Shama HaCohen, was questioned at the investigation offices of the Tax Authority in Tel Aviv on Monday for allegations of tax offenses. He was released to his home after eight hours of interrogation.

Shama HaCohen will be able to return to his job at the municipality on Tuesday morning since the suspicions against him are not related to his work at the municipality.

The investigation against him was conducted in secret for several months and became public on Monday evening with his summons for questioning.

The suspicions against the mayor and his wife are related to real estate belonging to the couple, mainly in Ramat Gan.

While the main suspect of tax offenses is the mayor, his wife is also suspected of similar offenses, mainly due to her position on the board of a company owned by the family.

According to current suspicions against him, the mayor evaded paying taxes amounting to hundreds of thousands of shekels on apartments he owned, although some of them were not registered in his name.

The spokeswomen of the Tax Authority confirmed the details to the Jerusalem Post, saying that they "confirm that since this morning, the Tax Authority has investigated a mayor from the central region on suspicion of committing tax offenses."