Two brothers, Avi and Chaim Shitrit, were convicted in a Tel Aviv court for defrauding the Defense Ministry of millions of shekels.Over the past five years, the brothers lied, saying that they were attending to their disabled father 12 hours a day, and were payed over a million shekels in total each as a result.
The State Attorney's Office filed a lawsuit against the brothers in the Defense Ministry's name for NIS 1.4 million.
The brothers' father was injured in the Yom Kippur War and was recognized as a disabled IDF veteran. Until his death in 2017, he required 24 hour care and nursing. The brothers signed on with a company that supplies nursing care to disabled IDF veterans on behalf of the Defense Ministry. They then reported that they were caring for their father and were paid a salary according to the hours they reported. One brother even reported that he was caring for his brother while living abroad.
The prosecution showed that the brothers were paid to care for their father 12 hours a day, while in reality, they hired a caretaker at a cheaper price and split the leftover money.
The brothers confessed and committed to pay compensation of a million shekels.
In the verdict, they were ordered to pay the Defense Ministry NIS 1.2 million (the amount the brothers accumulated after caretaker costs). They will also be charged an additional NIS 60,000 in fees.