Police on Monday questioned a mayor and three different elected officers on suspicions of bribery, corruption and tax-related offenses, police and Hebrew-language media reported.
The unnamed suspects have been interrogated by the police anti-fraud unit, Lahav 433, after an early morning raid on their houses and workplaces.
Police stated the covert investigation into officers from the unnamed metropolis was carried out collectively with the Tax Authority’s organized crime and fraud investigation unit.
As said by the assertion, the suspects, “illegally utilized their role in order to advance the interests of others.”
After a number of hours of questioning, two of the suspects have been launched. The different two will likely be introduced earlier than a choose on the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court afterward Sunday for a remand listening to.
Corruption scandals have dogged quite a few Israeli municipalities not too long ago.
Nazareth mayor Ali Salam seems on the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, January 30, 2014 (Flash90)
Last month, Nazareth Mayor Ali Salam confirmed he and several other different metropolis officers have been below investigation for numerous corruption-related offenses. Lahav 433 investigators questioned Salam and the municipal employees over suspicions of theft, accepting an unlawful reward in aggravated circumstances, fraud and breach of belief.
Earlier in May, a quantity of senior Beit Shemesh municipal officers have been arrested on suspicion of bribery and corruption, with investigators suspecting that they acquired sizable kickbacks from enterprise folks in return for advancing their pursuits by permitting them to buy land for improvement.
In April, Seven folks have been arrested when police and tax officers raided the Hevel Modiin Regional Council workplaces, together with a senior elected official in the council. Seven others have been taken to Lahav 433 headquarters for questioning as half of the identical investigation. Two others have been arrested in one other corruption probe.
In March, Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Meir Turgeman was arrested over corruption suspicions, after a covert investigation. Turgeman was arrested together with 5 others on allegations of bribery, fraud, breach of belief, abuse of energy and tax offenses.
Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Meir Turgeman at an occasion in Jerusalem on September 1, 2013. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Officials stated Turgeman, who serves as chairman of the capital’s Planning and Building Committee, was suspected of accepting cash in alternate for illegally advancing numerous pursuits.
An ongoing, unrelated corruption investigation involving officers from the Rishon Lezion municipality and native builders has targeted on MK David Bitan, a former deputy mayor in town, who was compelled to resign final December as coalition whip after it emerged that he was on the heart of the probe.