Negev Man Charged with Polygamy, Defrauding National Insurance Institute

The Southern District Prosecutor's Office has filed an indictment against a 50-year-old Negev resident in the Beersheba Magistrate's Court, charging him with polygamy and aggravated fraud against the National Insurance Institute (Bituah Leumi). The indictment alleges that the man, who has 22 children, concealed his marriages to two of his three wives from the institute, thereby fraudulently obtaining hundreds of thousands of shekels in benefits and payments.

The investigation was conducted by investigators from the National Insurance Institute with the assistance of the Central Unit of the Southern District Police. Documents from a Sharia court were reportedly collected during the investigation to support the suspicions regarding the marriages.