(VIDEO IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)

Members of the Israel Police Central Unit of the Northern District conducted a covert investigation for about a year. In the early morning hours, the investigation became open, and about 120 policemen and Border Police officers raided a number of houses in the Upper Galil, in the center of the country and in Jerusalem; making 23 arrests of suspects suspected of bribery, theft by a public servant, extortion, planning and building offenses and offenses, and income tax offenses. Among those taken into custody is a senior member of the agricultural association.

The clandestine investigation involved Israel Tax Authority agents from Haifa and the northern district, in cooperation with the Prohibition of Money Laundering Authority and the Northern District Attorney’s Office.

According to the suspicions, the official allegedly received monetary benefits in exchange for the benefit of others in violation of the law, fraudulent receipt of funds, embezzlement of the association’s funds. Persons who did not meet his demands suffered from water cuts.

With the arrest of the suspects, searches were conducted in their homes and their offices were seized with many documents and hundreds of thousands of shekels in cash and extensive economic enforcement was planned.

The suspects were brought for questioning by the police and in the afternoon and scheduled for arraignment in the Tiveria Magistrate Court.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)