The Rishon Lezion Magistrate's Court extended the remand of the latest suspect in the Holyland real estate scandal by five days on Wednesday afternoon. Beit Shemesh Municipality Director and former Interior Ministry official Matti Huta was arrested earlier Wednesday on suspicion of bribery offenses in the corruption investigation.
Huta served as chairman of the Interior Ministry's Planning and Construction Committee, Jerusalem District, between 1999 and 2006. The committee had approved an enlarged Holyland real estate development plan in the late 1990s.
Police suspect businessmen backing Holyland paid tens of millions of shekels in bribes to public officials to ensure the plan received approval.
