Minister of Welfare and Social Services Haim Katz has been summoned for questioning by Israel Police National Fraud Unit Lahav 433 in the Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI) (TASE: ARSP.B1) affair. Investigators in the national economic crimes section of the unit will question the minister about the manipulation of tender for service providers and bribing people to register in the Likud Party. The minister's son, Yair Katz, was arrested last month on suspicion of involvement in the affair, referred to as Affair 630.
Among other things, the investigators have collected a great deal of evidence and documents on these two matters, and want to verify it with Haim Katz. 14 suspects, serving in various jobs in IAI or as officeholders in the company, or in private companies that supplied services to IAI, or are doing so at present, were arrested last month, including Brigadier General (reserves) Amal Assad. The investigators believe that Assad promoted the interests of a company with which he was affiliated, and that the police have records of the flow of money to accounts related to this company.
Assad, 56, who has a good reputation in the defense establishment, connected himself to the suspicions in his initial question by the economic crimes unit section, but said that he had received no bribe, and that his actions were socially motivated. "I'm proud of what I did," he told his interrogators. His lawer, Advocate Uri Keynan, denied the suspicions attributed to Assad, saying, "It is a pity that the police arrested him, when he could have been questioned without an arrest."
Another important person arrested in the case is Eli Cohen, whom the police described as being the most powerful person on the IAI workers committee, and in the company in general. Since his arrest last month, the police have collected evidence from hundreds of IAI employees and service providers, and assert that they have succeeded in mapping criminal activity at IAI. Police sources said that the arrests had "broken the workers committee reign of fear."
Suspected offenses being investigated in the affair also include corruption, aggravated fraud, money laundering, theft by a public employee, and fraud and breach of trust.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on June 22, 2017
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