Kfar Saba Mayor and Wife Released to House Arrest Amid Corruption Probe
Translated & summarized from i24NEWS by baba
Kfar Saba Mayor Rafi Sa'ar and his wife Meital have been released to house arrest as part of a public corruption investigation. Police are seeking to separate the couple and suspend the mayor from his duties for two months. The probe involves allegations of bribery, fraud, and money laundering, with investigators looking into suspicious cash found and potential tender rigging. Hundreds of thousands of shekels are believed to have been transferred to the couple, funding a lavish lifestyle.
The story in 6 lines · by baba
- Kfar Saba Mayor Rafi Sa'ar and his wife Meital were released to house arrest on Thursday.
- Police are seeking to separate the couple and ban them from contact for two months.
- The mayor faces suspension from duties and a ban on municipal affairs for two months.
- The investigation involves allegations of bribery, fraud, money laundering, and tax offenses.
- Police suspect hundreds of thousands of shekels were transferred to the couple.
- Investigators are examining suspicious cash found and potential tender rigging.
Kfar Saba Mayor Rafi Sa'ar and his wife, Meital Sa'ar, are to be released to house arrest, police announced Thursday. Authorities are also seeking to separate the couple and prohibit them from contacting each other for two months. The police have requested that the mayor be suspended from his duties and barred from handling municipal affairs for two months.
Earlier this month, the mayor was arrested along with 18 others in connection with a public corruption investigation. The allegations include bribery, fraud, breach of trust, money laundering, and tax offenses. Among those involved are the mayor's wife and the CEO of an economic company.
Investigators are examining several incidents linked to the case, including the purchase of a smartphone for the mayor's daughter and the discovery of NIS 200,000 in cash at the home of the mayor's wife's mother. The mother claims the money is savings from domestic work. A wedding envelope containing cash, seized from the economic company CEO's home, is also under scrutiny, with police suspecting it was a bribe.
These suspicions add to existing allegations against the mayor and others involved, including the rigging of municipal tenders in exchange for cash bribes. Police estimate that the mayor and his wife received hundreds of thousands of shekels, enabling them to maintain a lavish lifestyle with cash-funded shopping and foreign trips.
