Israeli police seized 93 million shekels from the Menora insurance company and an additional 90 million shekels from its executives as part of the 'Hand Shakes Hand' corruption investigation, according to Channel 12. A police source said the seizure is unprecedented in scale.
Tonight, Israeli police seized 93 million shekels from the Menora insurance company and an additional 90 million shekels from its executives, according to Channel 12. A police source told the network the seizure is unprecedented in scale. The move comes hours after The Zioneer reported that tens of millions of shekels were seized from a well-known insurance company as part of the 'Hand Shakes Hand' corruption probe into the Histadrut labor union.
The Zioneer has been tracking the investigation throughout the day. At 19:01 Jerusalem, initial reports (versions 1–4) said police seized tens of millions of shekels from a public company. Within the same hour, further reports (versions 5, 8) identified the company as Menora and mentioned a raid on its offices. The latest prior report (version 9) again referred to an unnamed insurance company. The investigation, which began with the arrest of Histadrut chairman Arnon Bar-David and others, has expanded to include allegations that Menora promoted an insurance policy by providing benefits to agent Ezra Gabai, who allegedly had influence over Bar-David, as reported by journalist Tuvia Yagelnik (version 5, 19:01 Jerusalem). The sub-case also involves a medicine policy bribery allegation (version 3, 19:01 Jerusalem).
The probe, dubbed 'Hand Shakes Hand', has widened in recent weeks. As The Zioneer reported on Thu Jul 2, the Histadrut allegedly doubled its advertising spending to 18 million shekels amid the scandal, a move critics say is an attempt to rehabilitate the union's image using workers' funds.
The exact nature of the benefits provided to Gabai and the details of the medicine policy remain under investigation. The executives whose accounts were seized are expected to be summoned for further questioning at the national fraud unit later this week.
7 developments
Source and signal
- Internal intake