4 arrested in Yisrael Beytenu corruption case

Four people, including current and former government officials, were arrested and documents and funds seized from their homes and offices Monday morning as part of the investigation into a corruption scandal linked to the Yisrael Beytenu party. Additional suspects were detained for questioning.

The four suspects were accused of bribery, fraud and money laundering. Several of them had also been arrested in an earlier stage of the investigation.

In recent months, the Lahav 433 serious crimes and anti-corruption unit has been investigating the scandal, which broke at the end of December and implicated many Yisrael Beytenu members, including a deputy minister and a former minister, in bribery, corruption and nepotism allegations.

The police have been investigating, in coordination with the attorney general and the economics division of the State Attorney’s Office, the existence of an organized system in which senior government officials illegally transferred large sums of public funds to agencies and organizations.

In return, suspects allegedly received favors for themselves and their relatives, including cash gifts, nepotistic appointments and other benefits, according to a police press release.

In accordance with the latest developments of the case, the suspects were to be brought Monday afternoon to the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court to discuss a police request to remand them in custody.

Police first revealed the investigation in December, announcing that a year-long covert probe had revealed a large system by which politicians funneled money and favors to local bodies and other groups, as well as their members, in exchange for kickbacks.

Suspects “conspired in a calculated manner to advance their personal and public interests and to receive money for personal use, while committing various crimes in a manner that significantly impeded the administration of their areas of governance,” police said in a statement.

In January, investigators found NIS 13 million ($3.3 million) in the bank account of a close acquaintance of party leader Avigdor Liberman, and NIS 2 million ($510,000) was found in the bank account of key suspect former deputy interior minister Faina Kirshenbaum, also of the Yisrael Beytenu party.

Party leaders including Liberman have characterized the probe as a witch hunt timed to coincide with pre-election campaigning, although the police denied that the investigation was politically motivated.

Stuart Winer contributed to this report.