Israeli mayor arrested on fraud charges

The Israeli police raided Sunday the offices of the mayor of Hadera city and arrested him along with 12 other senior municipal officials on charges of fraud and bribery as well as money laundering and tax evasions, said a police statement. According to the statement, police fraud unit has conducted the investigation in the past two months, along with members of the Tax Authority and the Haifa district prosecution. "On Sunday morning, the units held searches in the city hall and in the homes and offices of the suspects," the statement said. "During this activity 13 people suspected of being involved were arrested and held for questioning, among them seniors in the city hall, contractors, entrepreneurs and others," it added. According to a report by Israel Radio on Sunday, Haim Avitan, the mayor, has long been in the center of an investigation regarding his appointments of associates to powerful positions in the city. This is not the first time he is suspected of such misconduct. A similar case against him was closed two months ago due to lack of evidence regarding a controversial appointment back in 2006 at a sewage recycling plant. Two weeks ago, the mayor of the city of Elad, Yitzhak Idan, and a number of municipality officials were arrested on charges of receiving bribes in exchange for expediting construction permits. They are suspected of receiving bribery, fraud and breach of trust as well as offenses of construction and planning. A week before that, the mayor of a city called Yahud in central Israel, Yossi Ben David was arrested on charges of fraud, bribery and money laundering. Last month, Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein wrote that mayor of the central city of Ramat Gan, Zvi Bar, is not worthy to carry on in his position due to serious charges against him of receiving bribery in a total sum of 1.9 million shekels (about 510,000 U.S. dollars) from real-estate entrepreneurs for expediting their affairs. These latest crackdowns on municipalities' officials are held amid the municipal elections due to take place in local authorities across the country in September.