Police raided the offices of Mercantile Discount Bank, arrested a vice...

As part of the bribery and fraud case in the field of tenders in the Eilat municipality, which became public this morning (Tuesday), police investigators also raided Mercantile Discount Bank, conducted searches at management offices and detained employees for investigation. Police even arrested a senior bank official. As we reported this morning, one of the detainees in the case is a senior vice president and head of a division at the bank.

Photo: Amit Shaal

Discount Bank reported to the stock exchange at noon that “this morning, Israeli police investigators arrived at the offices of the subsidiary Mercantile Discount, conducted searches at the subsidiary’s offices, collected documents and computer materials and detained several employees for investigation, including an officer at the subsidiary.” In addition, the Bank stated in its announcement to the stock exchange that “the Bank was not provided with information regarding the details of the investigation, including the nature of the alleged suspicions.”

In total, this morning the police arrested 8 suspects and in addition another 8 were detained for questioning. Among the detainees and detainees: municipal and senior public employees and a recognized construction and infrastructure contractor operating in Eilat.

The suspect under investigation is bribery, fraud and breach of trust, receiving anything fraudulently under aggravated circumstances, as well as offenses under the Anti-Money Laundering Act and offenses under the Income Tax Ordinance. According to the police, “the suspects, each according to his role and role, allegedly acted to promote tenders under the responsibility of the local authority in exchange for taking benefits and money’s worth, ostensibly in violation of the law and in violation of public institutions and the public interest.”

This is a complex investigation that has recently been conducted in secret, and which this morning with the arrests became overt. The investigation is being conducted by the National Unit for Combating Economic Crime (YALK) in Lahav 433 in cooperation with the Jerusalem and Southern Tax Authority’s Assessing Officer, with the assistance of the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Authority and accompanied by the Southern District Attorney’s Office.