In an indictment served in the Tel Aviv District Court over the weekend, the state attorney's office charged a London-based businessman with handing Ramat Gan mayor Zvi Bar almost a million shekels in bribes to advance a lucrative real estate project in the city.
Emanuel Arbib, an Italian citizen and CEO of London-based investment firm Integrated Asset Management PLC, is alleged to have given Bar bribes totaling NIS 977, 743 to influence local planning committees to green-light the Beit Lir Or project, in which Arbib's company Blantfort Investment Management Ltd had a substantial interest.
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Arbib is also charged in the indictment with money laundering offenses. The businessman allegedly concealed the bribe by disguising it as a £225,000 to Bar from London-based company, Grove Property Finance Ltd.
