Corruption is suspected at Tel Aviv water corporation Mei Avivim. The police and the Tax Authority are investigating allegations of bribery, false accounting, fraud, breach of trust, fraudulent receiving, embezzlement of an employer, forgery, money laundering, and tax offences by senior managers and staff at Mei Avivim and by contractors used by the company and other involved parties.
The investigation is being conducted jointly by the police Lahav 433 unit and the Tax Authority, the Tel Aviv VAT department, the Income Tax Investigations Department, and the Ministry of Finance, and is being accompanied by the Tel Aviv District Attorney's Office.
According to a statement by the Tax Authority, at the end of a covert investigation that lasted several months, conducted in collaboration with the Tel Aviv Municipality, this morning, more than 20 suspects were detained and arrested, and searches were carried out in the suspects' homes and offices.
The investigation has uncovered suspicions that workers at the water company, among them senior managers, conspired with contractors employed by the company under tenders, and received bribes from them in exchange for diverting calls for assistance to them and approving inflated demands for payment on the basis of false reports of repairs greater than required or actually carried out, while the contractors issued inflated invoices to the water company and made use of fictitious invoices.
In accordance with developments in the investigation, the main suspects will be brought before the Rishon LeZion Magistrates Court today for a hearing on extending their remand.
Mei Avivim stated in response to the report, "Mei Avivim relies on the work of the police and will cooperate in every way required."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 17, 2013
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