Thirteen suspects, including employees of the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality's sanitation department, were arrested Monday morning for alleged involvement in serious offenses, including public corruption, money laundering and fraudulent invoicing worth hundreds of millions of shekels.
Criminal gangs from both the Jewish and Arab communities are also implicated.
Footage from crackdown on Tel Aviv municipality employees suspected of defrauding hundreds of millions
(Video: Israel Police)
The investigation was led by the National Financial Investigations Unit in Israel Police’s Lahav 433 — a unit specializing in investigating organized crime, corruption and serious economic offenses, often dubbed “the Israeli FBI” — in collaboration with the Tax Authority.
According to a police statement, the suspects are believed to have engaged in significant public corruption, tax offenses, and money laundering within the cleaning industry.
The investigation became public on Monday with the arrests, and the suspects are currently being interrogated at Lahav 433 offices. Depending on the findings, they will be brought before the Rishon Lezion Magistrate's Court for a remand hearing.
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Cash found by police in crackdown on Tel Aviv municipality employees suspected of defrauding hundreds of millions
(Photo: Israel Police)
The investigation revealed that employees of cleaning companies providing services to the municipality's sanitation department promoted their interests within the municipality. This included rigging tenders and bribing sanitation department employees and their associates in exchange for winning tenders and collaborating in committing the offenses.
Additionally, the suspects are accused of conflicts of interest and fraud. The investigation found that these cleaning companies issued and deducted fictitious invoices amounting to hundreds of millions of shekels, pocketing tens of millions as a result.
Lahav 433 reported that the investigation is being conducted with the legal department of the Customs and VAT, as well as the Tax and Economics Prosecutor's Office.