Police major crimes unit raids Transportation Ministry amid probe into alleged corruption

The Lahav 433 national crime squad of the Israel Police raids the Transportation Ministry’s offices in Jerusalem, conducts searches and seizes documents as part of a new investigation into alleged corruption in the ministry.

The police state that they have opened a criminal investigation into activity in the Transportation Ministry on suspicions of fraud and breach of trust, which comes following a damning media report alleging that Transportation Minister Miri Regev systematically gave preferential treatment to local officials who assisted her politically.

According to the police, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and State Attorney Amit Aisman ordered the opening of the investigation “on suspicion of crimes in the field of ethical [misconduct] and interfering in legal proceedings that were allegedly done in the Transportation Ministry,” following the investigative report into Regev’s behavior on Channel 13.

The police statement does not say whether Regev is herself a subject of the investigation.

According to the Channel 13 report, Regev ranked cities by the level of political assistance she received from mayors and local officials in Likud primaries, agreeing to assist cities and municipalities with transportation projects and requirements if they had been helpful to her and rejecting or ignoring those that were politically antagonistic to her.