Histadrut chief, other senior labor officials detained in massive corruption probe

Police on Monday detained a number of senior officials in the Histadrut, Israel’s main labor federation, including its chair Arnon Bar-David, amid a major investigation into alleged corruption.

While some details of the probe were not revealed, police said the investigation spanned more than two years, and that those detained are suspected of bribery, fraud, breach of trust, money laundering and tax offenses.

In a statement, police said dozens of suspects were detained in connection with the alleged scheme. As part of the corruption probe, a list of almost 350 suspects, including heads of local authorities and senior business figures, is expected to be questioned over the coming days.

On Monday, 35 suspects, including several senior officials in local authorities across the country, were summoned for questioning by law enforcement authorities. Some of them were detained for questioning, among them Bar-David and his partner.

Police said the undercover investigation, which began around two years ago, found that senior officials of several municipalities and local authorities allegedly accepted bribes and benefits from businessmen, in exchange for promoting their companies and business interests.

Israel Police chief Danny Levy called it “one of the most serious cases we have investigated.”

He added, “There is a connection between businesspeople and senior figures in the economy, including labor unions, for both electoral and promotional purposes. We will act decisively and without fear of investigating senior figures in order to get to the truth.”

The Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court later ordered Bar-David remanded in custody for at least eight days. Police had requested his remand be extended by 10 days due to concerns over obstruction of justice and tampering in the investigation. His wife Hila, another suspect in the case, was remanded for a week.

Law enforcement officers from the Lahav 433 major crimes unit raided the offices of the organization on Monday morning, as well as the homes of several senior union officials, offices of local authorities, and corporations.

One businessman under suspicion, who owns an insurance agency and is said to be directly associated with Bar-David, allegedly operated a system with the Histadrut, using his ties and connections to procure jobs and hand out senior positions in government-owned corporations and local authorities in exchange for securing insurance contracts with labor unions and municipalities and their workers.

The businessman was named later Monday as Ezra Gabay, of the Gabay Insurance Agency. A member of the Likud party, he was shown in Hebrew media reports on Monday evening posing in photographs with several Likud ministers including Miki Zohar, Eli Cohen and Gideon Sa’ar.

Among the suspects in the corruption probe are senior officials at KKL-JNF, the Wingate Institute, and Israel Railways, as well as local authorities in Rishon Lezion, Ashdod, Kiryat Bialik, Harish, Rosh HaAyin and Kiryat Gat.

In response, the Histadrut said it was cooperating with law enforcement authorities.

“We are confident in the innocence of our people and are cooperating with enforcement authorities,” said Histadrut spokesperson Yaniv Levy in a statement. “We cannot comment further on ongoing proceedings.”

“The Histadrut’s public activities continue to operate as usual, including all of the organization’s services throughout the country,” said Levy.