Police question Mirilashvilis in Deri probe

Aryeh Deri photo: Shlomi Yosef
Aryeh Deri photo: Shlomi Yosef

Yitzhak and Mikhail Mirilashvili are suspected of giving over NIS 500,000 to Yaffa Deri's non-profit organization.

Channel 20 controlling shareholder Yitzhak Mirilashvili and his father Mikhail are among the 14 associates of Minister of the Interior Aryeh Deri detained for questioning in the Deri affair, it was reported yesterday.

In addition to Deri and his wife Yaffa, those questioned included former Ministry of Finance senior official Moshe Haba and Advocate Erez Malul. Two other associates questioned, as already reported in "Globes," were Ministry of the Development of the Negev and Galilee director general Ariel Mishal and Jerusalem city councilman Moshe Leon. Mishal and Leon were released after questioning without any restricting conditions.

Leon said that he had cooperated and answered all the questions. He added that he had not been asked about, and had no connection with, various matters reported in the media.

"The questions focused on a single subject involving the period during which Aryeh Deri was a private businessman. Leon gave all the particulars known to him, and no restrictions whatsoever were imposed at the end of his questioning," it was communicated. Mishal also said that he had fully cooperated.

Yitzhak and Mikhail Mirilashvili are businessmen known mainly for their investments in real estate, high tech. energy, and diamonds. According to the suspicion being investigated by the Israel Police Lahav 433 national fraud investigation unit, they gave the Mifalot Simcha organization managed by Yaffa Deri more than NIS 500,000 in 2014.

Other money transfers by the Mirilashvili family to Yaffa Deri's organization are also being examined. The investigation began in April 2016 with suspicions of tax offenses, mainly involving property, and was later expanded to other suspicions attributed to many suspects including Aryeh and Yaffa Deri.

Conflicts of interest

The investigation of Deri involves suspicions that officeholders in the Ministry of the Development of the Negev and Galilee approved money transfers to organizations allegedly related to the Deri family, one of which was headed by Yaffa Deri. It is suspected that these transfers involved a conflict of interest for Aryeh Deri, the responsible minister, while members of the Deri family work for the organizations and receive substantial salaries.

In one of the cases under police investigation, the ministry approved a NIS 500,000 transfer to an organization headed by Yaffa Deri. The transfer did not take place in the end, after intervention by legal advisers prevented it. Deri's investigation also involves real estate deals reported in "Globes" between members of the Deri family.

The police are examining the circumstances of the sale of rights in five housing units in a building in Givat Shaul by Aryeh and Yaffa Deri to Aryeh Deri's brother, Adv. Shlomo Deri. The deals took place in July 2013, shortly after Aryeh Deri was elected to the Knesset and two years before he was appointed Minister of the Economy and Industry. At the end of Deri's questioning on Monday, the police said, "MK and Minister Aryeh Machluf Deri was investigated on suspicion of money laundering, fraud, breach of trust, theft by a person with a power of attorney, false registration, and tax violations. The investigation is being conducted jointly by Israel Police, the Israel Tax Authority (Tel Aviv income tax investigations), and the Israel Money Laundering Prohibition Authority. We are unable to provide additional particulars about the investigation being conducted."

Aryeh Deri said in response, "I cooperated fully and answered all of the investigators' questions. As I said, I have confidence in the law enforcement system, and I call on the public to wait patiently, and to respect the investigations. With God's help, I will devote all my efforts to performing my public duties."

Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on June 1, 2017

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2017

Aryeh Deri photo: Shlomi Yosef
Aryeh Deri photo: Shlomi Yosef
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