Police on Wednesday morning arrested nine suspects, among them a Health Ministry inspector, in a suspected bribery scheme involving owners of several restaurants in Tel Aviv.
Two additional suspects were detained for questioning.
In a statement, police said the inspector is suspected of aiding certain restaurants and other eateries by giving them certification and information in exchange for bribes.
The police statement did not specify the names of the establishments.
Police suspect the payments amounted to hundreds of thousands of shekels, Hebrew-language media reported.
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The inspector also deliberately tried to financially hurt businesses that did not make the bribery payments, police said.
Some of the other arrested suspects are restaurant owners.
All those arrested are suspected of bribery, fraud, breach of trust and other offenses, police said.
The suspects were taken for questioning under caution by officers from the Lahav 433 anti-fraud police unit.
Depending on investigation needs, they could be brought in the afternoon before the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court for a remand hearing.
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