The Magistrate Court in Rishon L’Tzion extended the detention of Moshe Montag, a member of the Beit Shemesh city council for four days.

Montag, brought by investigators of the 433 Serious Crimes Unit to the court, is suspected by the police of several offenses. Police officials said at the start of the hearing that this was a complex affair involving a large number of suspects. According to the police, the suspects worked for many years together and committed public corruption offenses for favors and promoting their personal interests, causing damage to the public coffers and ignoring the law. According to the police, the suspects hid the suspects from the enforcement authorities.

As for Montag, the police said he was the main suspect in the case and was involved in almost all the criminal incidents the police are investigating.

According to the police, the suspect in acting as chairman of the Local Planning & Building Committee in Beit Shemesh, he gave permits and licenses to a number of real estate projects in the city of Beit Shemesh in exchange for bribes and favors. Police asked to prevent mentioning the names of the projects to prevent efforts to disrupt and interfere with the ongoing investigation.

The police representative presented a secret report to the judge, among others stating that the city building plan was intended for one thing, and through the Montag Committee changed it to another plan.

The police hinted that because of the fact that this is a group of chareidi suspects, the fear of disruption of proceedings is great. “We are not yet investigating all those involved, and not all the documents are in our possession, so there is a fear of disruption and compromising the investigation,” said the police representative, adding: “We are still talking about a group of suspects because most of the suspects in this case belong to a certain homogeneous group”, he said.

When Montag’s lawyer asked the police representative what he meant by a homogeneous group, the representative replied that it was a group in the same community in the same place of residence.

Questions by the lawyer of Montag revealed that police arrested Montag yesterday at ten-thirty at night, and he was taken to Lahav 433 headquarters, where he waited inside a vehicle for several hours and only then went with investigators to his home, then forced him to participate in the search, then the municipal offices only then that did they return to 433 HQ in Lod.

Montag’s lawyer made it hard for police representative, questioning why it was not mentioned that the case deals with the project on Sfas Emmes Street in the city, and that a police representative said: “We are not alone in the court and revealing and exposing the names and the investigation involved can lead to compromising the investigation.” But then Montag’s lawyer pressed, but the permits were nine and a half years ago. The police representative replied: “All the material is before the court.”

Montag’s representative did not allow the police representative to evade and asked again if he wanted to know whether the buildings had been inspected by the state comptroller. The police representative replied that the answer before the court, which led the judge to instruct the police representative to answer the question even if limited. But then the police representative said that he wanted to answer in writing, and the judge said that he required the police representative to say by heart, then the police representative admitted that the State Comptroller had indeed carried out an investigation into the incidents the police were investigating.

In conclusion, Montag’s lawyer said that the family had hoped he would not be held past Wednesday, but when Thursday was mentioned, they did not oppose.

In conclusion, the judge ruled that the suspicions against Montag are for many offenses, including receiving bribes, conspiring to commit a crime, accepting items fraudulently under aggravated circumstances, and more. According to the judge, there is a clear cause of detention for fear of obstructing interrogation procedures, and therefore he has extended his detention by four days. The judge clarified that this period of time is not sufficient to allow the police to complete its investigation, but decided to allocate the investigation in such a way as to enable the court to monitor its progress, and to the extent that this additional remand is requested, it will be held on Thursday at 12 noon.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)