Investigators from the Lahav 433 police unit arrested 13 municipal employees allegedly involved with local crime families

Investigators from the Lahav 433 police unit along with the officials from the Tax Authority raided the Tel Aviv municipality on Monday morning.

They arrested 13 suspects, including the employees from the Development Department, on suspicion of corruption, money laundering, and invoicing fictitious bills to the tune of hundreds of millions of shekels, in collaboration with organized crime families from the Jewish and Arab sectors.

The unit investigating financial crimes had revealed that employees of cleaning companies that provide services to the sanitation department in the Tel Aviv municipality had given bribes and favors to employees of the department in order to win tenders. They municipality officials are being accused of conflict of interest and committing fraud.

The investigation also showed that the same cleaning companies distributed and offset fictitious invoices, and pocketed tens of millions of Israeli shekels.

The investigation became public on Monday morning with the arrest of the 13 suspects, who have been taken for questioning and will then face a district court judge who will decide on the extension of their detention.

Source: i24news