Acting Bezeq chairman arrested in bribery, fraud sting

The acting chairman of Bezeq Communications is reportedly one of the suspects who was arrested by police on a battery of charges, including money laundering, obstruction of justice and bribery.

According to the Ynet news site, David Granot was arrested and questioned along with four other suspects, following a joint investigation with Swiss and American authorities into forged documents and fictitious real estate deals abroad.

Granot was appointed acting chairman of Bezeq last month, replacing Shaul Elovitch who is being investigated by the Israel Securities Authority.

Police declined to comment on the specifics of the current investigation, but confirmed that diamond mogul Beny Steinmetz was among those arrested.

Steinmetz, a Geneva-based diamond-mining magnate with an estimated worth of just over $1 billion according to Forbes, was arrested by Israeli authorities in December over allegations of bribing officials in the African country of Guinea to promote business interests there.

He spent two weeks under house arrest at that time.

— with AP

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