Land Authority head suspected in corruption case

Benzi Lieberman, head of the Israel Land Authority, was revealed Saturday as the senior official under investigation by police over corruption allegations in the government body.

The Lahav 433 National Fraud unit on Thursday raided the offices of the ILA and questioned Lieberman as part of an investigation into irregularities, improper management, and conflicts of interest there.

Nachum Langental, a former Knesset member for the National Religious Party (a precursor to Jewish Home), was also questioned.

Lieberman is suspect of using his position to help secure deals for a real estate company in which he was previously employed, and for which Langental serves as a board member.

Police fraud investigators raided the offices of the Israel Land Authority in Jerusalem early Thursday morning and questioned a senior official in connection to a corruption probe into the government body’s activities.

The investigation was launched by police over six months ago after they received information from a source inside the ILA, a government agency that manages public land in Israel, formerly known as the Israel Land Administration.

Lieberman is believed to have handled files at the ILA that were connected to land leasing for the company and other deals involving tens of millions of shekels.

Investigators noted that the case has no connection to another large corruption case, also linked to the ILA, involving dozens of public officials and senior members of the Yisrael Beytenu party, Channel 2 reported.

Stuart Winer contributed to this report.