Police ask AG for OK to question welfare minister in graft probe
Investigators want to probe Haim Katz about corruption suspicions at Israel Aircraft Industries
Police have asked Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to allow them to question Welfare Minister Haim Katz under caution in connection with a probe into alleged corruption at Israel Aircraft Industries, Hebrew media reported Wednesday.
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 young Katz, 36, who serves in the senior management of the IAI and has been a member of its powerful workers’ union for four years, was arrested on suspicion of coercing employees into joining the Likud party.
He was arrested along with fellow IAI worker’s 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, who chaired the union for more than 20 years.
Associates of the minister have slammed what they called “an orchestrated campaign of defamation in the media” aimed at “harming Katz’s name.”
In a separate case, the Israel Securities Authority is investigating suspicions that Haim Katz — while already a minister — bought shares in a real estate company shortly before the company announced it was merging with Airport City in summer 2015. Together with another suspected insider dealer, he is thought to have illegally reaped a NIS 290,000 ($75,000) profit.