A public employee from the employment service in Berhat was arrested today (Tuesday) on suspicion of defrauding state funds in the amount of over one hundred thousand shekels. The suspect will be brought to a hearing in court with a request to extend her detention.
Over the past few months, an undercover investigation was conducted in the Fraud Unit of the Southern District, with the National Insurance Investigations Division, against a public employee, a manager at the Berhat Employment Service, on the suspicion that she used to fictitiously enter into the systems, entitlements to financial benefits for dozens of jobseekers from Arab society, some of them even family members.
Thus, it allowed those jobseekers and income support recipients to fraudulently receive tens of thousands of shekels from state funds without reporting as required by national security procedures.
In the meantime, with the transition to an open investigation, the investigators of the Fraud Unit in the South District raided the suspect’s office, on suspicion of receiving a bribe, cheating under aggravated circumstances, false registration in corporate documents and offenses according to the National Insurance Ordinance. As a reminder, the National Insurance is obliged to pay an allowance on the basis of the employment service maps and according to them only.
As mentioned, the suspect was handed over for questioning and as necessary she will be brought to a hearing today with a request to extend her detention. The investigation is being conducted by the Israel Police and the National Insurance, accompanied by the Taxation and Economic Prosecution.
The Employment Service stated: “The Employment Service congratulates the Israel Police for the efficiency of its work in handling the information that the service provided regarding suspected corruption. The Employment Service congratulates the efficient work of the Israel Police, which treated with all seriousness the information provided by the Employment Service regarding a suspicious indication that arose in the activities of an employee at the Rahat office.” .
“A short time ago, the Israel Police announced the arrest of an employee of the Bureau, this following a long and secret investigation that began following the information provided by the Employment Service. It should be clarified that, contrary to what was published, this is not a manager but a junior employee. The Employment Service strongly condemns any offense against the purity of morals, and as As we did in this case, we will continue to do everything in our power to prevent and eradicate such phenomena in the future as well.”