King David Hotel - Historcal site
Wadi Ara lawyers suspected of multi million-dollar fraud
Coastal District Fraud Unit arrests two Wadi Ara lawyers for allegedly swindling two Egyptian banks out of NIS 18 million
The police department's Coastal District Fraud Unit on Tuesday arrested two lawyers from Wadi Ara over suspicions that they committed fraud against two Egyptian banks and swindled them out of NIS 18 million ($4.7 million).
The affair begins around 80 years ago in the 1930s when Egyptian banks, the Egyptian Arab Land Bank and the National Bank of Egypt, purchased shares in the King David Hotel in Jerusalem.
Disputed Ownership
Smadar Peri
National Bank of Egypt sues Israel for $78 million; claims King David Hotel also belongs to them
In the past few years the banks have sought to realize their shares and so, hired the services of two lawyers. They were supposed to file a NIS 300 million ($78 million) lawsuit on their behalf in the Tel Aviv District Court.
Police investigating the case said that the investigation raised suspicions that the lawyers were giving the court defective checks with which they attempted to pay the court fees on NIS 9 million ($2,350,000).
The checks were rejected but the attorneys forged the receipts they received from the court. In total the lawyers managed to swindle the banks out of NIS 18 million for funds that were never paid.
Police said that the pseudo-lawsuit on behalf of the banks has been going on for over two years yet the police complaint was only filed last November after the Egyptian banks understood that in fact, no suit was filed on their behalf in an Israeli court.
The attorneys representing one of the suspects, a lawyer from Baka al-Jarbiya said that he denied the charges and claims that he himself was taken advantage of by his employer and has nothing to do with the fraud. The police will on Wednesday ask the Magistrate's Court to extend the suspects' remand.
Hassan Sha'alan contributed to the report
- Receive Ynetnews updates
directly to your desktop
