Rami Levy
Photo: Gil Yohanan
Rami Levy owner arrested on suspicion of corruption
Owner of the eponymous supermarket chain arrested on suspicion of avoiding paying NIS 20m in betterment taxes for the allocation of extra commercial space on a shopping mall by bribing a council head into slashing figure.
Rami Levy, the owner of an eponymous supermarket chain—Israel’s third largest—was identified Sunday as the businessman recently arrested on suspicion of fraud and breach of trust.
Levi, who in 2015 was one of the torchlighters during the state ceremony for Holocaust Memorial Day, was arrested at the conclusion of a covert investigation, which culminated with the police raiding office of a local council, and carrying out a number of arrests.
Among those arrested were Levy’s partner and lawyer Yoram Shimon, who is the head of the Mevasseret Zion local council, a businessman and an editor of a local newspaper.
Rami Levy (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
Shimon was released this Sunday to five days house arrest and was barred for two months from the council. As part of the agreements between his defense attorneys and the State Prosecutor's Office, Shimon would be prohibited from contacting the parties involved in the case for a period of two months.
Investigators suspect that the head of the council failed to demand that Levy pay betterment taxes for the Rami Levy Hashikma Marketing shopping mall he built.
According to the details currently known about the investigation, as the final touches were being made to the mall's construction, Levy and his partner filed a request for permission to receive an additional 3000 square meters of commercial space, which was approved by the council head.
Rami Levy Hashikma Marketing
When Levy was subsequently requested to pay the betterment taxes in the amount of NIS 20 million, the same council head acted against the local committee in a bid to reduce the sum for Levy.
In addition, Levy was granted permission to build a parking lot next to the mall without paying the extra costs required.
In return for these cost-saving benefits, the mayor's wife was appointed marketing director of the mall while the head of the mayor's election campaign was appointed director general of the mall.
