A Jerusalem District Police central unit and the Israel Tax Authority moved to the overt stage of an investigation into a suspected international financial crime network allegedly involved in laundering hundreds of millions of shekels through fictitious companies, false invoices and real estate payment vouchers, police and tax officials announced on Wednesday.
Three central suspects were arrested on suspicion of receiving something by fraud, money laundering and tax offenses involving an estimated NIS 500 million.
The covert investigation was led by investigators from the Jerusalem District Police central unit’s fraud department together with investigators from the Jerusalem and Southern Districts Income Tax Investigations Office. The investigation was launched after suspicions arose that the three were operating an international financial crime mechanism designed to launder money, evade taxes and deliberately conceal income, harming state coffers.
The case was named “Payment Voucher” due to the suspects’ extensive use of real estate-related payment vouchers, alongside additional offenses.
During months of investigation, investigators uncovered the suspects’ alleged method of operation. According to the suspicion, the three operated an extensive network of fictitious companies and nonprofit organizations in Israel and abroad. Through this network, they allegedly laundered money for local companies, while smuggling funds from overseas and injecting them into Israel.
The alleged method included receiving cash, distributing false invoices and sophisticated concealment of funds through bank transfers, real estate voucher payments and the use of family members’ bank accounts.
On July 14, the investigation entered its overt phase, when investigators raided the homes of 16 suspects and arrested several of them for joint questioning. During the raids, dozens of properties were seized that investigators suspect were obtained through fraud and with funds generated from concealed income.
So far, dozens of additional individuals have been questioned. According to investigators, they received and used the services of the central suspects for the purposes of money laundering, concealing income and obtaining benefits by fraud.
As required by the investigation, the detention of two of the central suspects, a 48-year-old man from Kiryat Ye’arim and a 56-year-old man from Tel Aviv, was extended by the court until Thursday.