Petah Tikva mayor summoned for questioning on suspicion of bribery, breach of trust
Rami Greenberg claims probe politically motivated; city’s director general also detained alongside unnamed associate amid ongoing corruption probe by police’s Lahav 433 unit
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Police summoned Petah Tikva Mayor Rami Greenberg for questioning on suspicion of involvement in bribery and breach of trust offenses Monday morning.
The director-general of the municipality, Yaniv Benita, and another unnamed suspect have also been detained for questioning as part of a larger investigation by police’s Lahav 433 major crimes unit, which concerns the city’s 2018 elections.
Greenberg, along with several of his associates, is the subject of an ongoing corruption probe into allegations of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, false registration of corporate documents, money laundering and tax crimes.
Police previously briefly arrested Greenberg and Benita in August 2022 on the suspicion that businessmen Moshe Saadon and Ron Omsi transferred hundreds of thousands of shekels to the mayor’s campaign in return for financial benefits, which he allegedly promised them upon his taking office.
Greenberg was later released. He was again summoned for questioning in January 2023.
Ofer Bartal, the mayor’s attorney, told the Ynet news site on Monday morning that his client was being targeted by his political opponents via the justice system.
“The mayor is an honest man with clean hands, who cleared out the stables of corruption in Petah Tikva, and as such didn’t satisfy the economic and political interests of certain actors,” he asserted.
The Times of Israel Community.