This past weekend provided a painful reminder to those who believed international borders would grant them immunity: In a series of combined operations by the State Attorney's Office International Affairs Department and the Israel Police Interpol unit, two significant extraditions were completed. Landing in Israel from one side of the terminal was Efraim Yaniv Mualem, who fled to Panama at the last minute before the sentencing phase after being convicted of tax evasion and money laundering on a massive scale. On the other side, Patrick Bellaiche, one of the architects of Europe's "Fraud of the Century" in carbon trading involving hundreds of millions of euros, was placed on a flight to Paris. Having fled to Israel, he will be extradited to France to serve an active prison sentence.
Yaniv Mualem
Two indictments were filed against Mualem in 2019, attributing to him VAT offenses under aggravating circumstances and money laundering through forged documents and fictitious invoices on a very large scale. Mualem confessed and was convicted in both indictments during 2022. The court scheduled sentencing arguments, but at that stage Mualem fled Israel.
After the Israel Police Interpol unit located Mualem in Panama, Israel requested his arrest and extradition through attorneys Naomi Elfalag and Matan Akiva of the State Attorney's Office International Affairs Department. Mualem was arrested in Panama on September 23, 2024, the extradition request was approved by the Panamanian authorities, and on Thursday Mualem was extradited to Israel and brought before a judge to resume his trial.
Patrick Bellaiche
In addition, the extradition of Patrick Bellaiche from Israel to France was completed following his conviction there in the "Fraud of the Century" affair.
Blaise's extradition was carried out following a request from the French government to serve a four-year prison sentence (minus the days he was detained in France during his trial). The sentence was imposed for his role in a large-scale VAT fraud scheme involving carbon dioxide emission allowances in France, which was carried out by an organized criminal group in which he was a partner between 2008 and 2009, as well as for his role in money laundering carried out by the group between 2008 and 2012.
The fraud affair in carbon emissions was dubbed the "Fraud of the Century," and Blaise was one of many defendants in this scheme.
The sophisticated criminals exploited the ability to trade carbon emission allowances under the Kyoto Protocol, which aimed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The criminal group used an extensive network of shell companies to purchase millions of tons of carbon allowances in transactions exempt from VAT (because they originated outside France), and then resold them in France while collecting VAT. However, they refrained from transferring the collected VAT to French authorities, or transferred only a minute portion of it.
The criminal group in which Blaise operated led to the fraudulent receipt of €283,875,063 from French authorities, with Blaise directly involved in fraud totaling €52,387,255. Blaise received a payment of €530,000 for his part in the fraud. In addition, between November 1, 2008, and November 27, 2012, the criminal group acted to conceal and convert the proceeds of the aforementioned fraud offenses by transferring funds to shell companies outside France while opening bank accounts for French companies in foreign countries.
Blaise acted to make two companies under his control available to the criminal group to implement the scheme. In December 2008, he amended the articles of association of both companies to add carbon credit trading to their purposes. Blaise effectively managed the operations of these two companies, but at the same time arranged for two of his nieces to be registered as dummy managers. These two companies were directly linked to the fraudulent receipt of VAT totaling €52,387,255 as noted above. Blaise was also part of the money laundering involving the proceeds of the fraud by arranging the opening of bank accounts in Hong Kong and Cyprus for the two companies, executing transfers of crime proceeds to these bank accounts, and more.
Blaise was present during his trial in the court of first instance in France, but by the time the verdict was handed down in 2016, convicting him and sentencing him to four years in prison, he was already in Israel. Blaise appealed the verdict, and while not present himself for the appeal, he was represented by an attorney with power of attorney on his behalf, as permitted by French law. On June 28, 2017, Blaise's appeal was rejected, and the four-year prison sentence minus detention days was upheld. This judgment became final on July 4, 2017, after no further appeal was filed.
On February 29, 2024, the extradition request regarding Blaise was received in Israel. On November 24, 2025, the International Affairs Department filed a petition with the Jerusalem District Court to declare Blaise extraditable to France. On January 13, 2026, the petition was granted by the court and Blaise was declared extraditable to France. On June 29, 2026, the Supreme Court rejected Blaise's appeal against his declaration, making it final.
After the justice minister signed an extradition order, Blaise was extradited on Thursday to France. The extradition case was handled by the International Affairs Department at the State Attorney's Office. The extradition of the wanted individual was carried out in cooperation with the Israel Police and the Interpol squad in the Israel Police Special Tasks Department.