Police lean on MK Bitan's 'banker' to turn state witness
Moshe Yosef's bank accounts and assets were frozen, while his close associates were called in for questioning by the Tax Authority, in effort to ratchet up the pressure on him to testify against coalition chairman Bitan and other politicians in investigation into corruption at the Rishon LeZion municipality.
Police are putting pressure on Moshe Yosef, a businessman dubbed MK David Bitan's "banker," to sign a state witness agreement, with his lawyers summoned to the Lahav 433 anti-corruption unit's offices on Thursday to discuss the matter, Ynet has learned. Yosef was released to house arrest Thursday evening.
In addition, the district court hearing on Yosef's remand extension, scheduled for Thursday, was postponed.
One of Yosef's lawyers, Gil Dachoach, was the one who prepared businessman Miki Ganor's state witness agreement in the submarine affair.
Yosef is the only suspect arrested so far in connection with the investigation into corruption at the Rishon LeZion municipality, in which coalition chairman Bitan is also involved.
Police suspect Yosef was a central figure facilitating the transfer of bribe money to Bitan.
Sources said police might offer him to serve as a state witness against Bitan and other politicians, but not against criminals involved in the affair, in a bid to alleviate the pressure of signing an agreement.
Police have imposed financial sanctions on Yosef in an effort to convince him to cooperate, with many of his close associates being called in for questioning by the Israel Tax Authority and his bank accounts and assets being frozen.
Meanwhile, police have decided to postpone a questioning session with Bitan scheduled for Thursday following the death of his wife's father.
Bitan's wife: My husband managed our bank account
Bitan's wife, Hagit reportedly admitted during police questioning last week to receiving an envelope with NIS 8,000 in cash from Yosef, according to the Israel Television News Company.
"This was a loan, my husband doesn't even know about it. This was a personal loan to me due to financial difficulties we've encountered," she reportedly told investigators.
She did, however, distance herself from deposits of the hundreds of thousands of shekels into the Bitan couple's joint bank account, claiming "it was my husband who managed the account. We fell into hard times with his account, so I opened an account and he managed it."
Channel Ten News also reported that Bitan's brother, Shlomo Bitan, gave a testimony to police in which he provided an explanation for some of the money used to cover his brother's debt. Shlomo Bitan told police he sold an apartment he owned and gave his brother NIS 2.5 million that he received in the sale.
However, police are still investigating where the rest of the money came from, as the coalition chairman's debts were estimated to reach NIS 7 million.
One of Yosef's lawyers said Wednesday he was confident that "as the investigation continues, the suspicions against my client will evaporate."
A close associate of Yosef expressed doubt over police claims that they had already collected evidence incriminating Bitan. "If the police say they have allegedly incriminating recordings, why are investigators so eager to 'fish' a state witness?" he asked.
Bitan's lawyer assured that "MK Bitan is confident and has logical and convincing explanations to all of the evidence being presented to him."
Bitan's 'banker'
Investigators are poring over every invoice issued by Yosef's business, Masada Furniture, in recent years, and hundreds of people have been called to testify on what they paid Yosef.Police suspect the invoices were issued for fictitious deals, and the money the store received was funneled in secret to David Bitan.
Even before the affair became public, police investigators marked Yosef as a central figure that might possibly connects all of the different suspects in the case.
Based on suspicions Yosef was committing various tax offenses, police wiretapped him for more than a year.
A few months ago, police went so far as to install hidden cameras inside his furniture store. For months, investigators collected evidence of alleged tax crimes to the tune of millions of shekels, involving, among other things, forged invoices and money laundering.
Moreover, the wiretapping revealed Yosef's close connection with Bitan, who used to come to the furniture store every day and talk to him about the "Thousand Compound" project in Rishon LeZion.
Yosef is suspected of giving Bitan NIS 260,000 in bribes to finance Bitan's daughter's wedding, with Bitan in return ostensibly helping his associates win the tender for development and infrastructure in the "Thousand Compound" project.
"We suspect he acted as David Bitan's bank," said a source close to the investigation.
"He received a lot of money. He laundered, loaned and transferred money to (Bitan). He did not just sell furniture," the police asserted.
