A serious corruption affair was revealed this morning at the Israel Taxation Authority. At the end of a covert investigation by the National Fraud Investigation Unit of the Israel Police Lahav 433 division together with the investigative arm of the Tax Authority, several suspects were arrested and others were detained for questioning, all of them current or former Tax Authority employees. The suspicion is that for years in their roles at the Tax Authority they took bribes in return for facilitating false tax rebates amounting to some NIS 80 million.
The bribery affair is believed to have continued for over twenty years at tax inspector offices in the central region, among them the Petah Tikva and Netanya branches, and to have involved more than ten Tax Authority employees. Among the senior suspects in the affair is a former deputy assessing officer at a branch of the Authority in central Israel. This is a senior role in the Tax Authority with considerable powers. The investigation lasted several years and focused on corrupt relationships that ended in 2018-2019 but that began many years begore.
Police source: The suspects knew about one another
With the emergence of the investigation into the overt stage, a currently serving Tax Authority employee has been arrested, other current employees have been summoned for questioning, and several retired employees have been detained.
The suspects are alleged to have garnered between NIS 10 million and NIS 15 million in bribes. The main suspect is believed to have pocketed NIS 7 million, another prominent suspect received some NIS 2 million, while other suspects received smaller sums.
"At this stage, the question is being examined whether the suspects operated as an organized gang, or whether each operated alone, but it is already clear that it wasn’t possible not to know about the receipt of bribes and the suspects knew about one another," a senior police source says.
According to the allegations, taxpayers would file false tax returns showing that they had overpaid tax and that they were due the repayment of money to which they were not actually entitled. "According to the allegations, false annual tax returns were filed with the knowledge of the suspects, the criminal partners in the Tax Authority," the police source said. "As a result, the state appeared to be liable to pay rebates to the taxpayers. The rebates totaled more than NISD 80 million. Instead of concealing income, they found another method: making an accounting with the state in the annual return showing that instead of owing tax, the state owes them."
The bribes to the suspects were paid in cash and in kind. None of those who paid the bribes has been arrested at this stage. Some of the suspects will be brought before the Ramle Magistrates Court later today for a hearing on extending their arrest.
The suspects have not been convicted of committing a crime and are entitled to the presumption of innocence.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on July 20, 2026.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2026.
