Police search Rishon city hall in probe of company run by former Police Commissioner nominee

Police say Hirsch was not arrested or questioned by police forces.

By BEN HARTMAN
Updated: NOVEMBER 10, 2015 01:48
Gal Hirsch (photo credit: FACEBOOK)
Gal Hirsch
(photo credit: FACEBOOK)
Investigators on Monday searched the Rishon Lezion City Hall as part of an investigation into a defense firm run by former nominee for national police commissioner, Brig.-Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch.
Hirsch was not arrested or questioned, police said.
The investigation deals with suspicions reported by Channel 2 surrounding contracts given Hirsch’s company Defensive Shield Holdings to remove land mines from the Rishon Lezion seashore.
The municipality said in a statement that it “conducted itself in a fitting way in this matter and all decisions that were made were approved unanimously by a committee set up to review the tenders and by the city council. Nonetheless, we decided to have the city comptroller examine the matter and we are cooperating fully with police in every way.”
In September, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan rescinded his nomination of Hirsch to lead the Israel Police, after a month of controversy surrounding the nomination.
The controversy centered largely on Defensive Shield Holdings, which was named in an international investigation by law enforcement agencies – including the FBI – into alleged corruption by a former Georgian politician who had links to the company. The investigation has also looked into allegations of wrongdoing by a number of Israeli defense companies.
In a separate corruption case, police on Monday arrested three additional suspects on Monday in a major graft probe involving current and former officials from Netivei Israel – National Transport Infrastructure Company LTD.
The case revolves around allegations that the suspects concocted a sophisticated, methodical system to funnel money to their own pockets by moving vast amounts of public funds to cronies and associates.
The case first went public last Monday, when police arrested more than 20 people, including former Likud MK Michael Gorlovsky, and top executives from Netivei Israel.


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