The Israeli JusticeMinistry filed an official motion with the Italian government to extradite former Heftsiba CEO Boaz Yona, the ministry's statement said Saturday.
According to the statement, the motion was filed on Wednesday by the Foreign and Justice Ministries, the International Crimes department in the State Prosecutor's Office and the police's National Fraud Unit. It is now awaiting the Italian authorities' reply.
Yona is wanted by the Israeli police in association with the collapse ofThe Heftsiba Construction Company, which filed for bankruptcy in late July.
The former CEO and owner of the company, Yona fled toItaly to avoid criminal charges and was apprehended ina joint Israeli-Italian police and Interpol operationin late August.
If extradited to Israel Yona would face charges of fraud, forgery, grand larceny, falsifying corporate records, money laundering and several counts of securities fraud.
Police investigation into Heftsiba's collapse revealed, among other things, that Yona was able to extract some $74.8 million from the company, using two sets of accounting books.
Yona's attorney, Yair Golan, is not authorized to practice law in Italy and is now searching for an Italian litigator to represent his client in the extraditing hearing.