Ramle Court Sentences Defendant to Prison and Million Shekel Fine

The Ramle Magistrate's Court has sentenced Raed Shaar to 40 months in prison and a fine of one million shekels for his involvement in a large-scale tax evasion scheme. The scheme, dubbed "Case of the Star," operated between 2013 and 2018, involving officials in the fuel industry who allegedly issued and processed fictitious invoices totaling millions of shekels to evade taxes. Shaar and his former wife, Inas Shweiki, who worked as an accountant, acted as accomplices in creating a fraudulent infrastructure using fake documents and IDs. The primary defendants, Shlomo Yaakovson and Zeev Shmein, were accused of distributing and processing fake invoices worth 156 million shekels. They allegedly paid commissions for each liter of fuel listed in the documents, resulting in significant profits for the accused and substantial losses to the state treasury. The court accepted a plea agreement between the prosecution and defense, with Judge Dorit Saban Noy fully endorsing the agreed-upon sentence. In addition to the prison term, Shaar received a three-year suspended sentence, contingent on refraining from similar tax offenses. The investigation was conducted by the Tel Aviv Investigation Unit.