The Israel Police National Fraud Squad today questioned Boaz Chechik, the former CEO of Israel Credit Cards-Cal Ltd. (ICC-Cal) (Visa) and chairman of ICC-Cal International Ltd. on suspicion of filing false corporate documents, violating the Prevention of Money Laundering Law (5760-2000), fraudulent receiving, breach of trust, and violating Bank of Israel procedures and international credit card regulations in 2006-09.
The police have also questioned other individuals, apparently current and former executives at ICC-CAL, who are suspected of involvement in the case. After eight hours of questioning, the suspects were released to their homes, with restrictions.
The investigation was opened after the discovery of false corporate documents of ICC subsidiary ICC International. The documents concealed the character of foreign gambling and pornography companies, whose charges may not be cleared under ICC regulations. The investigation raised suspicion that ICC International made hundreds of millions of shekels in profits from the forbidden operations.
The police began investigating Chechik after Israel Discount Bank (TASE: DSCT) filed a complaint on May 26 following a series of investigative reports by Moshe Lichtman in "Globes". The reports detailed the deviations from ICC's risk management procedures, especially regarding the clearance of charges from online gambling, pornography, and "nutritional supplements" (non-prescription drugs) sites. Following the reports, Visa Europe and MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA) investigated ICC's risk management system and fined the company: Visa Europe levied a €9 million fine, and MasterCard levied a $3.6 million fine.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 26, 2011
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