Minister at center of graft probe said to spirit mom out of police station during grilling

Social Equality May Golan is being accused of helping her mother slip away from a police station during questioning in a graft investigation that has embroiled the Likud lawmaker and several people around her.

According to reports, the mother escaped the police station with Golan after asking to use the restroom, and cops on the scene declined to intervene due to concerns about parliamentary immunity.

A statement attributed to Golan’s camp carried by the Ynet news site appears to confirm that Golan took her mother out of the station, describing her as an 80-year-old woman in ill health, and saying that it only occurred due to health reasons and that police had finished questioning in relation to the case.

“After an hour of questioning, interrogators removed the mother from the investigation room. The mother was upset and shaking all over, and minister Golan immediately took her home to recover and brought in a doctor,” the statement reads, adding that medics called to the scene recommended that she avoid stress due to raised blood pressure.

The statement also accuses police of leaking details of the investigation and says “interrogators refused to allow Golan and the lawyer who came with them to ensure that the questioning will not cause irreversible damage to her health.”

According to an Israel Police statement on Monday, Golan is accused of using nonprofit organizations and government systems as a “tool for illegally extracting funds.” Several of her associates and former aides have been arrested in the case, but she has refused to answer police summons for questioning.