Stealing fuel from the IDF and bribing military noncommissioned officers: Suspects in a multimillion-shekel fraud scheme linked to military operations in the Gaza Strip appeared in court Tuesday evening for hearings on extending their detention. They included owners of contracting companies hired to carry out work in Gaza.
Ran Rahmani, 74, an Afula resident, one of the main suspects in the case, owns R.M. Rahmani Earthworks Ltd., a contracting company that works with the Defense Ministry. He was arrested Tuesday morning as part of an investigation by the Lahav 433’s southern economic crimes unit, Israel's national police investigative division.
An engineering vehicle on a truck in the Gaza Strip
(Photo: BASHAR TALEB / AFP)
According to investigators, Rahmani supplied heavy equipment to the Defense Ministry through a subcontractor, Southern Drift Ltd., and was aware that fuel had not been delivered. During his court hearing, investigators said that VAT reports raised "suspicions of inflated figures and improper deductions." His attorney denied the allegations, and his detention was extended by three days.
The detention of another suspect, Elisha Yifrah, was also extended. He was arrested on suspicion of receiving payment for fuel he never supplied and issuing fictitious invoices.
Other key suspects include Mohammed Amar, owner of Southern Drift Ltd., and Yosef Abu Amar, 61, of Lakiya, who worked as a manager at a company that won a Defense Ministry tender to carry out work in the Gaza Strip during the war.
A police representative told the court that Abu Amar "is suspected of defrauding state institutions by failing to report fuel he took from the IDF. He is also suspected of bribing noncommissioned officers in the Gaza Strip."
The noncommissioned officers allegedly involved in the scheme were also arrested and brought in for questioning Tuesday morning by the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division. Military prosecutors requested extensions of their detention.
Police also arrested Zidan Abu Amar, the tax adviser for Southern Drift Ltd.. During a search of his home, investigators seized 600,000 shekels in cash and gold.
A police representative told the court: "This is a serious case of financial fraud involving millions of shekels. Since the outbreak of the Iron Swords War, the suspects have exploited wartime conditions to amass enormous wealth by defrauding state institutions."
Police suspect those involved of offenses including money laundering, providing false information, falsifying accounting records, aggravated fraud, corporate fraud and breach of trust, among other crimes.
Investigators also suspect that Rahmani, which operated in the Gaza Strip, inflated the amount of work it performed to obtain additional payments.
The investigation was conducted jointly by Lahav 433's Southern Economic Enforcement Unit, the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division's Central Unit for Special Investigations and the Israel Tax Authority's Beersheba VAT Investigations Unit.
On Tuesday morning, as the investigation moved from its covert phase to an overt operation, Lahav 433 and military police arrested 21 suspects in a large-scale operation across Israel.
The undercover investigation found that contractors hired to carry out infrastructure work for the military in Gaza allegedly stole fuel worth millions of shekels. They are also suspected of submitting fictitious invoices for work they never performed or for services and materials they failed to provide in full, despite their contractual obligations.
Investigators further suspect that the military noncommissioned officers acted as intermediaries between the army and the contractors on the ground.
"The suspects exploited the enormous chaos in Gaza to steal millions of shekels," a source involved in the investigation said.