Israeli Deputy Mayor of Be'er Ya'akov Indicted for Multi-Million Shekel Corruption Scheme

The State Prosecutor's Office has filed a serious indictment against Noam Sasson, the current deputy mayor of Be'er Ya'akov, along with six other defendants including businessmen, contractors, and private companies. The indictment, submitted to the Central District Court in Lod by attorney Elhanan Dreyfus from the Central District Prosecutor's Office, accuses the defendants of multiple offenses related to public corruption, breach of trust, and tax violations.

According to the indictment, Sasson, who served as deputy mayor and chaired the tender committee during the relevant period, abused his public position to promote the economic interests of associates and friends. The main case involves summer renovations in educational institutions in Be'er Ya'akov in 2019, worth millions of shekels. Sasson allegedly acted in a severe conflict of interest to benefit his friend Giora Shabtai by manipulating contracts through fraudulent means involving contractors and front men. The indictment claims that Shabtai and others received renovation work through fictitious agreements that concealed the true performers, with hundreds of thousands of shekels transferred via methods designed to hide the money's source and beneficiaries.

Sasson is also accused of facilitating payment approvals and work orders for those involved and requesting they perform certain tasks for him as "donations." Another charge involves interference in a tender for waterproofing kindergarten roofs, where Sasson allegedly favored a childhood friend by leaking internal information and delaying procurement discussions to allow a lower bid from his associates to win.

The most financially significant allegation concerns a transportation tender valued at over 20 million shekels. Sasson and his business partner Eliyahu Daouan reportedly falsely claimed to have dissolved their partnership to bypass conflict of interest rules, yet continued joint business activities, securing a contract worth over 20.2 million shekels from 2020 to 2022.

The indictment also includes charges of threats and harassment against a council engineer who testified in the investigation, with Sasson confronting and threatening her job. Additional tax offenses are attributed to Shabtai, who allegedly concealed approximately 4.5 million shekels in income over eight years, and contractor Erez Medina, suspected of underreporting rental income exceeding one million shekels.

The investigation was conducted by the National Fraud Investigation Unit of Lahav 433. The prosecution is also seeking to confiscate assets and funds worth millions linked to alleged money laundering offenses by the defendants.