Minister of the Interior Aryeh Deri and his wife Yaffa came today to the offices of the Israel Police Lahav 433 national fraud investigation unit, to face questioning on suspicion of financial offenses. Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit approved questioning of the Deris simultaneously in separate rooms in order to prevent them from coordinating their answers.
The police detained 14 suspects today from all over Israel in the Deri affair as part of the Lahav 433 investigation in cooperation with the Israel Tax Authority.
The investigation began in April 2016. It initially focused on suspected tax violations, mostly involving property, and was expanded to other suspicions attributed to many suspects, including Deri and his wife.
Deri's interrogation is expected to involve, among other things, real estate deals revealed in "Globes" between Deri family members. The police are examining the circumstances of the sale of rights in five apartments in a building in Givat Shaul by Yaffa and Aryeh Deri to Aryeh Deri's brother, Adv. Shlomo Deri. The deals took place in July 2013, shortly after Deri was elected to the Knesset, and two years before his appointment as Minister of the Economy and Industry.
Deri is also expected to be questioned by police investigators working in cooperation with Tax Authority investigators on suspicion that his house in Kfar Hoshen was built with money that was not properly reported to the tax authorities. Deri will also be asked about money received by him or members in his family from overseas parties.
Expressing confidence that he will be vindicated, Deri welcomed his summons to give his version of event to the police, after many months of suspicion. Sources told "Globes" on Deri's behalf, "Minister of the Interior Aryeh Deri said as soon as he became aware that an investigation had been opened 14 months ago that he would cooperate completely, and would answer any question asked."
Today's developments in the investigation raise another suspicion against Deri: that employees in the Ministry of the Development of the Negev and Galilee had approved the transfer of funds to non-profit organizations allegedly linked to the Deri family, and that Yaffa Deri headed one of these organizations.
It is suspected that the transfer of funds was to have taken place when Deri had a conflict of interest, because he was the responsible minister, while his family members were working in these organizations and receiving substantial salaries. In one case under police investigation, the ministry approved the transfer of NIS 500,000 to an organization managed by Yaffa Deri. In the event, the transfer did not take place, following intervention by government legal advisers, who prevented it.
Before he was questioned, a source on behalf of Deri said in response, "Deri trusts the law enforcement system to do its work responsibly and properly."
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on May 29, 2017
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