Beit Shemesh city officials remanded in graft case

A court on Sunday afternoon extended the remand of a number of senior municipal officials in the city of Beit Shemesh who were arrested earlier in the day on suspicion of bribery and corruption, police said.

Investigators suspect that the officials from the central Israeli town received sizable kickbacks from business people, in return for advancing their interests by allowing them to purchase land for development.

Planning committee chairman Moshe Montag and municipal engineer Daniel Tzarfati were remanded in custody until Thursday, by the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court.

Montag is alleged to have given building permits and approval for real estate projects in exchange for bribes and benefits, including rezoning public areas to residential. He is suspected of fraud and conspiracy to commit crime.

Tzarfati is also suspected of receiving favors and bribes in exchange for promoting ​​planning and construction of developers, as well as fraud and conspiracy to commit a crime.

Tzarfati’s lawyer said his client denied all the allegations, and argued that he should be released due to his health, but the judge rejected the argument, saying that there was a very real chance that his release could obstruct the investigation.

The other two suspects were also remanded until Thursday.

Developer Leib Waldman is suspected of bribing and mediating bribery in order to advance his affairs and receive building permits in one of the projects, while Yitzhak Raber is suspected of acting as an intermediary between developers and contractors and the municipality.

Two others, who were not named by police, are suspected of acting as intermediaries and were remanded until Tuesday. A fifth person was released to house arrest until Thursday.

The police’s Lahav 433 anti-corruption unit and the Israel Tax Authority raided the suspects’ homes and their offices.

Corruption scandals have dogged numerous municipalities over recent years.

Last month police arrested or detained in three separate cases a total of 17 local officials across the country, including one municipal representative reportedly close to Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon.

Seven people were arrested when police and tax officials raided the Hevel Modiin Regional Council offices, including a senior elected official in the council. Seven others were taken to Lahav 433 headquarters for questioning as part of the same investigation. Two others were arrested in another corruption probe.

An ongoing, unrelated corruption investigation involving officials from the Rishon Lezion municipality and local developers has focused on MK David Bitan, a former deputy mayor in the city, who was forced to resign last December as coalition whip, after it emerged that he was at the center of the probe.

Raoul Wootliff contributed to this report.