Israeli suspected of forgery & tax fraud returns under new identity, even succeeds in receiving State assistance  before getting caught.

By Ahiya Raved

Hutzpah on an international scale: An Israeli who fled the country to avoid a Tax Authority investigation is suspected of returning under a false identity, posing as a new immigrant from Morocco making an aliyah.

A year and a half in Morocco – Photo: Yaron Visbin

According to the police, the man, who was arrested Wednesday in his native Migdal HaEmek, even succeeded in securing a State stipend granted to those who make aliyah.

A police investigation revealed that the 38-year-old Migdal HaEmek resident decided to flee Israel two years ago after falling under heavy suspicion from the Israeli Tax Authority (ITA).

However, after a year and a half as a fugitive in exile, his homesickness got the best of him and he decided to make aliyah.

“The Interior Ministry told us that there is a guy from Migdal HaEmek who immigrated to Israel under a false identity,” Superintendent Aryeh Elkobi, head of the police’s northern district fraud unit, said.

“This guy changed his identity and immigrated to Israel from Morocco using his alias to pose as a Moroccan immigrant,” Elkobi explained.

It turns out that upon his ‘aliyah’ the suspect even received all the benefits the State grants new immigrants as part of its Absorption Basket, valued at more than NIS 18,000 (roughly $5,000) per immigrant.

Two IDs

The man moved back in with his family in Migdal HaEmek and was arrested on Wednesday. Two different ID cards were discovered in his possession.

During his interrogation the man confessed to the charges and his case has been returned to the tax authorities.

According to the ITA the man is suspected of concealing business transactions worth millions of shekels, while forging invoices to conceal the fraud. According to the suspicions, he would drop one of the zeros from the invoices he handed to the ITA, concealing the true value of the transaction.

At the time of the original investigation the man divorced his wife and fled the country.

Currently, it is revealed that while he was abroad he conducted negotiations with the ITA in an attempt to avoid arrest, but these ended in a stalemate, and he failed to secure such a deal.

“From the information we received during the last couple of days, it turns out that the suspect entered the country under a forged identity, masquerading as a new immigrant from Morocco.

“An investigation we conducted revealed he had moved to Migdal HaEmek, all the while moving his ex-wife and children there as well,” the ITA said.

View original Ynet publication at: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4374897,00.html