Petah Tikva mayor questioned over ‘significant development’ in corruption case
Rami Greenberg was detained in August on suspicion hundreds of thousands of shekels had been illegally transferred to him as campaign donations
Petah Tikva Mayor Rami Greenberg, who is suspected of bribery, was summoned for questioning on Tuesday with police saying there was a “significant development” in a corruption probe surrounding him.
Several other suspects in the case were also detained.
An unsourced Channel 12 report said the new round of questioning appears to indicate progress by police in convincing one of those involved to turn against Greenberg as a state witness.
Greenberg was arrested in August last year and then released to house arrest.
He and several others are suspected of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, false registration of corporate documents, money laundering, and tax crimes.
A police request to temporarily ban him from resuming his duties as mayor for 45 days was rejected at the time by the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court.
Petah Tikva municipality director Yaniv Benita and two businesspeople linked to Greenberg have also been arrested and later released in the case.
The police anti-corruption unit Lahav 433 began its investigation after the 2018 municipal elections, with suspicions that hundreds of thousands of shekels had been transferred to the mayor in the form of campaign funds.
In exchange, Greenberg is suspected of having agreed to provide financial favors to the donors in the wake of his election victory.
His arrest in August came after police said they had obtained information on two phone calls made by Greenberg that proved he was attempting to obstruct the investigation into him.
A clip published by Channel 12 at the time showed Greenberg apparently accepting a stack of cash from a local businessman. The network said that the man seen counting out the money and handing it to Greenberg is involved in the case against the mayor, but did not identify him or elaborate further.
Greenberg was also detained in July 2022 on suspicion of corruption in a separate case, in which he allegedly withheld municipal funding from institutions that were entitled to it unless they fired or ousted officials that he considered his opponents, as well as their family members, from key positions.
At the time, Greenberg denied the allegations against him and railed against “intrigues” and “hatred” that he claimed had led unidentified individuals to attempt to topple him.
