Israel Police today detained 10 officeholders in the Rishon Lezion municipality and members of religious organizations in the city for questioning on suspicion of fraud, breach of trust, aggravated fraud, false registration in corporate documents, and other offenses.
Today's arrests made the investigation an open one, after a covert investigation of over a year. It is suspected that Rishon Lezion municipal employees, city council members, and members of organizations in the city conspired to obtain money from the municipality by fraud. They "invented events" supposedly conducted in the city by the organizations, and requested money for them, while the events either did not take place at all, or more money was requested for them than justified by their actual scope and cost.
According to the police, a thorough investigation revealed suspicions that NGO members submitted orders and receipts to the Rishon Lezion municipal budget department for events supposedly conducted by them, or which were conducted on a limited scale, while more participants and higher costs were reported for them than actually existed. The excessive billing allegedly amounted to hundreds of thousands of shekels during recent years, including events for the religious public, such as religious lessons in community centers, production of events such as inauguration of a Torah scroll, Simchat Beit Hashoeivah (rejoicing of the water-drawing house), etc.
The investigation is another in a series of recently exposed affairs in which criminal acts by public officeholders in the local authorities are suspected, with an emphasis on exposure of embezzlement, fraud, and greed that directly harms the entire public in breach of public morals.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on April 25, 2017
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