Israel Police Lahav 433 Unit (Israel’s FBI) is investigating a bribery case involving very high-ranking civil servants including director-generals of government ministries, heads of local councils, MKs, and a deputy cabinet minister. The deputy minister is also suspected of appointing persons close to her, who were instructed as to how they should allocate government funds.
Israel Police made the announcement of the ongoing investigation on Wednesday 2 Teves, stating over 30 public officials are under investigation.
Police report that in a highly organized operation, millions of shekels in public funds were allocated to NGOs, local municipalities and organizations illegally. The case also involves money laundering with investigators adding the persons involved have been calculated in their actions towards advancing their interests.
Some of the names released with the partial lifting of the gag order include Deputy Minister of the Interior Fania Kirschenbaum (Yisrael Beitenu), former Minister of Tourism (Yisrael Beitenu) Stav Misezhnikov, Rehovot Mayor Rachamim Malul, and Ramat Gan Mayor Yisrael Zinger.
Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein gave investigators the green light to detain the deputy minister and others on Wednesday morning. The Malul and Zinger have already been questioned under warning and remain under house arrest. Over 30 suspects have been detained by police on Wednesday. An arraignment hearing is scheduled for 14:00 in the Rishon L’Tzion Magistrate Court.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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One Response
It may be interesting to analyze indictments made by Weinstein according to political party. It does seem that he has a penchant for going after the religious right and for ignoring the left. By the way whatever happened to the accusations of bribery leveled against Ehud Barak.