Police arrest 23 suspects after year-long probe into public corruption
“The Israel Police will continue to investigate and expose improper processes, where there are conflicts of interest, and to seek and reach any place where there is suspicion of public corruption."
By TAMARA ZIEVEUpdated: JUNE 25, 2018 02:49
Police arrested 23 suspects on Sunday morning following a year-long covert investigation by the Northern District police into integrity offenses and public corruption.In the early hours of the morning, some 120 police officers and border police raided several houses in the Upper Galilee, central Israel and Jerusalem. They arrested the suspects on suspicion of bribery, breach of trust, extortion threats, theft by public officials, money laundering, planning and building offenses, and income tax evasion. A senior member of the Agricultural Association is among the detainees.The investigation was conducted by the police, in collaboration with the Tax Authority, and the assistance of the Israel Money Laundering and Terror Financing Prohibition Authority and the Northern District Attorney’s Office.Police suspect that the official received benefits in exchange for advancing the benefits of others, in violation of the law. He allegedly engaged in fraud, embezzlement of the association’s funds, and people who did not meet his demands allegedly suffered from water outages.Police searched the houses and offices of the suspects and seized many documents, as well as hundreds of thousands of shekels in cash.The suspects were taken in for questioning and were due to appear at the Tiberias Magistrate’s Court later in the day for hearings to extend their detention.“The Israel Police will continue to investigate and expose improper processes, where there are conflicts of interest, and to seek and reach any place where there is suspicion of public corruption that harms the government and ordinary citizens,” Israel Police said.