The sitting head of a local council in northern Israel and five other people were arrested on suspicion of bribery, Israel Police said Tuesday.
Investigators in the Lahav 433 major crimes unit have for months been conducting a covert probe into suspicions of bribery, fraud, money laundering, tax offenses, and breach of trust involving local officials across several towns in the north, police said.
They went public with the probe after arresting the five suspects, detaining five others for questioning, and conducting searches in the offices of local officials in several authorities.
Evidence gathered so far points to bribery ties between the officials and computer service contractors who allegedly offered them benefits in exchange for tenders from municipal governments, police said.
Police also believe the suspects collaborated to fraudulently pocket public funds.
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Officers plan to bring the suspects to the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court to request that they be kept in custody.
In February, the former mayor of Nazareth and 10 other defendants, including the head of a powerful crime family, were charged with embezzling millions of shekels from the municipality’s coffers over the course of a decade.
Ali Salam, ex-mayor of the northern city, was charged with overseeing the transfer of some NIS 61 million ($20 million) to the Bakri crime family from 2015 to 2025, via a front, a private security service called Shomrei HaGalil.
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