Police bust land theft ring in northern Israel

Courtroom  photo: Eyal Yitzhar
Courtroom photo: Eyal Yitzhar

More than thirty suspects, among them lawyers, have been detained for questioning.

Israel Police revealed this morning that it has suspicions of systematic theft of land in the north of Israel by a network that includes lawyers. The police conducted a long, complex covert investigation into suspicions that a large number of people, among them lawyers, conspired to take over large areas of land in the north, and over a long period of time committed offenses of forgery, fraud, extortion with threats, and money laundering.

The investigation began in the fraud division of the police Northern District, and was later transferred to the Lahav 433 national fraud unit. It is being conducted in conjunction with the Israel Tax Authority's investigations department in Haifa and Land Tax Office in Nazareth, and is being accompanied by the Northern District State Attorney's Office (civil and criminal).

The covert investigation substantiated the suspicion that a group of people, mostly from the north of Israel, had in recent years systematically forged documents in order to take over land unlawfully. It is suspected that more than twenty plots of land, most of them agricultural, were stolen by fraud without the knowledge of the owners, and that various actions had been taken concerning the land vis-a-vis the authorities, such as entering caveats in the Land Register (Tabu), and even actual transfer of ownership.

It is suspected that in some cases stolen lands were sold to innocent buyers through a process of forgery and fraud vis-a-vis the authorities, the buyers, and the real owners. In some cases, the owners and the authorities with responsibility for land transactions (the Land Registry, the Land Tax department) filed complaints and/or civil lawsuits.

Last night, the police and Tax Authority investigators detained more than thirty suspects for questioning, and carried out searches at the suspects' homes and offices. This morning, once the arrests were complete, the blanket gag order that had up to now been imposed on the affair was removed.

In accordance with developments in the investigation, some of the suspects will be brought before the Rishon LeZion Magistrates Court at 15:00 today for hearings on extension of their remand.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 27, 2015

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2015

Courtroom  photo: Eyal Yitzhar
Courtroom photo: Eyal Yitzhar
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