Israel Police is investigating allegations of corruption involving a number of criminal offenses, among them bribery, fraud, and money laundering, by past and present senior managers at Netivei Israel National Transport Infrastructure Company Limited. Israel Police has detained about twenty suspects for questioning. Among those detained is a former member of Knesset.
For several months, the department for investigation of corruption in public companies of the police Lahav 433 unit has been conducting a complex covert investigation, employing a range of advanced intelligence gathering and investigation tools, on suspicion of the existence of a systematic mechanism run by employees of Netivei Israel, including past and present senior executives, who conspired with external suppliers and promoted their employment in the company's projects in exchange for bribes and various benefits in kind. The extent of the corrupt payments is estimated in the tens of millions of shekels.
The covert investigation exposed and found corroborative evidence of a number of affairs linked together by organized and systematic methods of operating, whereby in return for bribes and benefits in kind for themselves and for people close to them, senior managers at the company promoted the engagement of certain external suppliers. It goes without saying that the money used in carrying out these offenses and derived from them is suspected to be public funds.
This morning, as the investigation moved from the covert to the overt phase, officers of the Lahav 433 unit carried out searches at the homes and offices of the suspects detained. The unit seized computers and documents, and account details for the purposes of confiscation.
In accordance with progress in the investigation, some of the suspects will be brought before the Rishon LeZion Magistrates Court this evening for hearings on extending their remand.
With our without connection to the current allegations, this is not the first time that the names of some of the senior people in Netivei Israel have been linked to corruption. Former Netivei Israel chairman Alex Wiznitzer and former CEO of the company Shai Baras are among the main suspects in what has become known as the Yisrael Beitenu affair. In that affair, in which many of the suspects are connected to the Yisrael Beitenu party, headed by Avigdor Liberman, the suspicion is that government funds were channeled to various bodies in return for a kickback from the funds or lucrative appointments.
The investigation is being carried out by the Lahav 433 unit in coordination with the international department of the State Attorney's Office and in collaboration with the Tel Aviv Customs and VAT Investigations Department of the Israel Tax Authority. Throughout the investigation, there has been cooperation with the Government Companies Authority, the Israel Money Laundering and Terror Financing Prohibition Authority (IMPA), and the State Comptroller's Office.
Netivei Israel said in response to the report, "Netivei Israel is cooperating fully with Israel Police and we will assist the police in every way required."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 2, 2015
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