Gindi Investments 1 Ltd. (TASE: GIND.B1) today notified the TASE that controlling shareholders and co-CEOs Manor Gindi and his brother-in-law, Uri Levy, were arrested on Monday on suspicion of bribing Adv. Roy Bar in a corruption scandal relating to a residential project in Rishon LeZion. Gindi, Levy, and other suspects whose names have not been released, are suspected of bribing Bar, who served for years as outside legal counselor to the local planning and building commissions in Rishon LeZion and Rehovot, in exchange for Bar's promoted their interests in real estate ventures in the cities.
Gindi Investments stated that the conduct of its officers was beyond reproach, and that when the facts were clarified, it would be shown that their names were mistakenly included in the case.
The investigation involves three projects: the White Towers by Gindi Investments and a second company in Rishon LeZion; the Little Rishon project by Bonei Hatichon Civil Engineering and Infrastructures Ltd. (TASE:BOTI) in Rishon LeZion; and Haztrot Hamoshava by Roni Yitzhaki in Rehovot.
Gindi Investments stated, "Gindi Investments was not a partner in the tender for this project. It entered the project a year after another developer won the tender, and the planning process was completed when Gindi Investments entered the project. Any settlement on fees with Adv. Bar and his firm was concluded before Gindi Investments joined the project, and Gindi Investments was not a party in the matter. We trust the authorities to complete the investigation and reach the truth quickly and efficiently."
Gindi Investments is also the company involved in the balconies collapse scandal in a new building in Hadera. It is not involved in the Gindi Upper West, Museum Towers, and Nation Towers projects in west Rishon LeZion, which are being built by Gindi Holdings Ltd.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 5, 2014
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2014