Police arrest 20 Tel Aviv water corporation workers in bribery probe

Mei Avivim employees allegedly colluded with contractors to falsely charge water corporation for infrastructure, repair work.

By ALON HACHMON, JPOST.COM STAFF
Police car370 (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Police car370
(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Police on Tuesday arrested 20 employees of Mei Avivim, the Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipal water and sewage corporation, for alleged involvement in a large-scale bribery and embezzlement scheme.
The employees in question allegedly colluded with contractors performing infrastructure work for Mei Avivim in order to embezzle money from the company.
It is suspected that the outside contractors overcharged Mei Avivim for repair and infrastructure work, providing overblown or fake receipts which were approved for payment by the water corporation employees in question.
The arrests were made Tuesday morning following a lengthy undercover investigation, police said. Police also raided the homes and offices of several suspects.
The suspects were scheduled to be arraigned at Rishon Lezion Magistrate's Court on Tuesday afternoon. The investigation was carried out in cooperation with the Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipality.
Mei Avivim said in response to the arrests that it "trusts the work of the police, and is fully cooperating with all requests."