More arrests made in IDF corruption affair
Joining 12 others, Air force chief captain and NCO arrested on suspicion of involvement in IDF corruption affair; after relative of IDF chief arrested, Eisenkot distances himself.
An air force chief captain and NCO were arrested Wednesday, joining the 12 people taken into custody this week on suspicion of involvement in a corruption affair alleging million of shekels fraudulently received from the army for fictitious contract work that was never performed.
The two newest suspects will be remanded in court along with those taken in during the first wave of arrests.
On Monday, Lahav 433 investigators arrested two officers and ten employees of a civilian firm providing infrastructure services to IDF bases. The two officers, a lieutenant-colonel and a major—tasked with overseeing tenders and services received in bases—allegedly took part in bilking the army of the funds.
The two are said by police to have approved work on different bases by contracting companies for millions of shekels, which were never actually performed. For their participation in the scheme, the pair allegedly received, on a systematic basis, favors and bribes over a span of several years.
Channel 2 News reported Wednesday one of the suspects arrested was a relative of IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot.
Sources close to Eisenkot stressed the army chief has no business relations to his relative, and that the two had most recently met eight months ago at a family function.
"The committee on suspending suppliers due to criminality, chaired by Ministry of Defense Deputy Director-General Brig.-Gen. (res.) Roni Morano, has decided to freeze all new communication with the company, to suspend it from participating in any new tenders and to halt the transfer of funds it's owed," read a statement by the Ministry of Defense.
"The committee will reconvene as the investigation progresses in order to consider the company's supplier status and conducting any further relations with it," the statement concluded.
