Police suspects Druse soldiers fraudulently received fund money

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
Hundreds of Druse soldiers who completed their IDF service are suspected of fraudulently receiving money from an army fund, police said on Wednesday. Money put aside for soldiers for after their release was illegally channeled through an organization called the Committee for the Promotion of High School and Academic Education for the Druse in Shfaram, according to suspicions. Soldiers would deposit their army fund money to the Committee, and would then receive a check for a sum of between NIS 19 to 25 thousand, after commission had been reserved by the Committee. Police raided the Committee's Shfaram offices on Monday, seizing computers and detaining management, as well as eight released soldiers suspected of receiving money through the organization. The investigation into the suspected fraud began in March 2008, after police received complaints that money was being transferred illegally to Israeli soldiers from a variety of backgrounds.