Police summon Shas minister for questioning over alleged funneling of money to party newspaper

Police have summoned Shas minister Haim Biton for questioning on suspicion of using public funds earmarked for education to finance a private newspaper affiliated with the ultra-Orthodox party, Hebrew outlets report.

A police spokesman says that officers in the Lahav 433 fraud investigations unit detained four suspects as part of a months-long covert investigation, which is now made public, into the alleged use of budget funds to prop up the children’s supplement of a private newspaper.

Police do not name the minister under investigation, but media outlets say he is Biton, a minister within the Education Ministry. In October, the Kan public broadcaster reported that Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara had opened an investigation into Biton and others associated with the HaDerech newspaper.

State funding meant to go to Shas’s Maayan Hachinuch Hatorani school network was allegedly funneled to HaDerech via various backdoor methods during Biton’s tenure as head of the network. The newspaper allegedly used this taxpayer money to pay editorial and journalistic salaries.

Police say that they searched and seized documents in relation to the crimes, in addition to arresting the four suspects.