United Hatzalah employee arrested for major embezzlement of organization’s funds
Woman allegedly filed false paperwork of car accident damage to steal hundreds of thousands of shekels for nonexistent repair payments; suspect’s sister also detained
Police arrested an employee of the United Hatzalah first responder organization on suspicion of embezzling hundreds of thousands of shekels of the organization’s funds by filing in false paperwork for payments to cover the costs of nonexistent car crash damage.
In a statement Tuesday, Israel Police said the suspect, a resident of the town of Shoham in her 30s, had worked at United Hatzalah as part of a prisoner rehabilitation program after completing a term behind bars for a previous offense.
She is suspected of fraud, stealing from her employer, forgery, conspiracy to commit a crime, and money laundering among other offenses.
An undercover investigation was launched in recent months following a complaint from United Hatzalah’s management, police said. The investigation was made public Monday when officers arrested the suspect at her home and took her in for questioning by the Jerusalem District’s fraud unit.
The suspect was in charge of dealing with garages regarding damages from traffic accidents involving the organization’s vehicles.
She is suspected of presenting fictitious invoices from multiple garages around the country regarding “damage” to citizens’ vehicles from accidents involving United Hatzalah vehicles that never took place.
The money subsequently transferred from the organization was then handed to the suspect and to her relatives, as well as to businesses around the country, “all for her personal benefit,” police said.
Her sister has also been arrested on suspicion of receiving large sums of money as part of the scheme.
Hatzalah said it fired the employee as soon as it detected the alleged offenses.
“There are strict mechanisms of professional and continuous monitoring and auditing regarding the financial activity and payments in the organization,” the group said in a statement reported by the Kikar HaShabbat outlet.
“The control mechanisms of the Finance Division detected a suspicion of attempted embezzlement by a former employee, who was fired.”
At the request of police, a court ordered the suspect kept in custody until Sunday as the investigation continues.
