Thirteen suspects were arrested Monday morning in a police raid on the Tel Aviv municipality, including employees of the sanitation department, on suspicion of serious crimes of public corruption, money laundering, and offsetting fictitious invoices amounting to hundreds of millions of shekels. Police suspect that crime families from the Jewish and Arab sectors were involved in the corruption.
שוטרי היחידה הארצית לפשיעה כלכלית בלהב 433 עצרו הבוקר 13 עובדי עיריית ת״א, בחשד לעבירות חמורות של שחיתות ציבורית והלבנת הון בהיקף של מאות מיליונים ובמעורבות של משפחות פשע >> pic.twitter.com/DXnQgWOOVV
— משטרת ישראל (@IL_police) May 20, 2024
Lahav 433, a crime-fighting organization within the Israel Police, raided the Tel Aviv city hall on Monday morning, arresting 13 city employees. The Lahav 433 investigation has revealed that employees of cleaning companies that provide services to the sanitation department in the Tel Aviv municipality promoted their affairs in the municipality biasing tenders, and gave bribes and favors to employees of the sanitation department and their associates, in exchange for winning tenders. They are also suspected of conflict of interest and committing fraud.
Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai was part of the protest movement against the Netanyahu government both before and during the war on Gaza. In 2004, during Huldai’s second term as mayor, the police exposed the corruption of senior officials in a municipal company that operated dozens of parking lots in the city. Huldai was interrogated with a warning regarding his involvement in the corruption, but his case was closed due to insufficient evidence.
Huldai is the chairman of Forum 15 of independent Israeli cities that refuse government grants.
