Minister questioned as criminal suspect in Likud vote racket probe
Haim Katz is suspected of 'ethical violations' involving a scheme to coerce employees to vote for him in party primaries
Welfare Minister Haim Katz was questioned under caution Thursday as part of a police investigation into alleged corruption at Israel Aerospace Industries, where he served as head of the workers’ union for over two decades before becoming a minister two years ago.
Katz is suspected of “ethical violations” involving a scheme to coerce employees into joining the Likud party and vote for him and his preferred candidates in the party primaries.
The interrogation, which lasted from early morning until late afternoon, comes two months after police requested permission from the attorney general to question Katz, police said in a statement.
Further details of the probe are under gag order, the statement added.
Suspicions of corruption, fraud and breach of trust at IAI became public in March when police raided the defense contractor, arresting 14 people — among them Katz’s son Yair.
The younger Katz, 36, who serves in the senior management of IAI and has been a member of its powerful workers’ union for four years, was arrested on suspicion of forcing employees into joining his father’s Likud party.
He was arrested along with fellow union member David Peretz. The two were held after their homes were raided and searched.
The labor union at IAI, which employs some 16,000 people and is Israel’s largest state-owned company, is seen as closely tied to Katz senior.
Responding to the attorney general’s decision to allow police to question him, the minister said that he and others and the IAI were the targets of an “unjustified smear campaign.”
“I will cooperate fully with the investigation and I am sure that everything will return calmly to the way it was before,” he said in a statement.
In a separate case, the Israel Securities Authority is investigating suspicions that Haim Katz — after being appointed a minister — bought shares in a real estate company shortly before the company announced it was merging with the Airport City business park in summer 2015. Together with another suspected insider dealer, he is thought to have illegally reaped a NIS 290,000 ($75,000) profit.