The criminal case, originally discovered during an annual, routine State Comptroller’s Report of all the parties, uncovered within the Israeli-Arab political party Balad, discrepancies for various political projects, including fund raising, falsifying corporate documents, forgery, use of forged documents, money laundering, and Violations of the Party Financing Law.

By Eli Senior, Hassan Shaalan

High ranking officials in the Israeli-Arab political party Balad is under suspicion for corruption, the Israel Police reported on Sunday.

“The National Unit of the Israel Police, in conjunction with various other police forces, have carried out searches and have detained more than 20 people throughout the country. Amongst those detained were high ranking members of the Balad party, lawyers, and accountants. They have been arrested on suspicion of their involvement in several cases of fraud concerning monies obtained and used for campaign financing.”

“It is suspected that the people involved in fundraising were hiding the sources of funding, while at the same time committing various offenses which centered around aggravated fraud, falsifying corporate documents, forgery, use of forged documents, money laundering, and Violations of the Party Financing Law and Local Authorities Law, amongst others,” the police continued.

The case, called case 274, was discovered following the State Comptroller’s Report.

The Israel Police said that its forces carried out “a search of the suspects’ houses and offices, including Balad party offices, and obtained documents and materials, as well as assets and bank accounts related to those involved for further requests and forfeiture purposes.”

The police also said that “a State Comptroller’s Audit, which was carried out in conjunction with an undercover investigation by the National Unit of the Israel Police, formed the basis of the indictment against the Balad officials and members. They, together with other lawyers and accountants, allegedly managed a system whereby they were able to hide the origins of millions of shekels of Balad Party money which they used to fund their projects. They did all of this while committing fraud against the authorities and the state comptroller.”

“The party allegedly received millions of shekels from donors from within Israel and from abroad, and fraudulently reported the amount of funding from hundreds of donors from within Israel.”

“The investigation began with the approval of former Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein in accordance with the state prosecutor’s recommendation,” the police’s statement continued.

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