15 Ashdod Port workers arrested for corruption

By NIV ELIS

05/27/2014 09:03

The suspects, including senior officials, are under investigation for bribery and extortion, among other charges.

[ My intention with my blog is to simply collect articles of interest to me for purposes of future reference.  I do my best to indicate who has actually composed the articles. NONE of the articles have been written by me.  – Louis Sheehan ]

The Israel Police on Tuesday arrested or detained 15 suspects from the Ashdod Port and affiliated private companies, and searched their houses and offices, mostly at the port, according to a police spokesperson.

The arrests follow a year-long undercover police investigation carried out in cooperation with the Israel Tax Authority and the Israel Money Laundering and Terror Financing Prohibition Authority, checking suspicions of bribery, fraud, breach of trust, abuse of power, extortion, private gain of a public worker and violations of the anti-money laundering act.

The investigation raised suspicions that high-ranking officials had created mechanisms for advancing private companies controlled by their associates who shared their profits, either through bribes or in-kind benefits, with the officials.

Ashdod Port. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

In order to assure their favored company did business with the port, the officials also pressured other companies that wanted contracts with the port to stay out of the mix, even if they wanted to offer lower bids. As a result, the port lost out on revenues, which ultimately comes at the expense of government funds.

Among those arrested was Ashdod Port Union chairman Alon Hasson.

In June of last year, a Channel 2 investigation into Hasson's financial shenanigans led him to step down from his post briefly, only to be reinstated by the Histadrut Labor Federation Chairman Ofer Eini in September after an internal investigation.

The Channel 2 report found that the Port did regular business with a small shipping company connected to Hasson, called Benny Dan Movers, and stocked products from a cleaning supplies company he owns, Shahar-Hops. The report also alleged that Hassan’s family members and friends received choice positions and ran intermediate businesses facilitating profitable deals between Hasson’s companies and the port. Hasson denied the allegations.

Hasson's use of a gay slur on his Facebook pages in March led for Transport Minister Israel Katz, who has been promoting port reforms the union opposes, to call for Hasson's resignation.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Katz alluded to the arrest, writing "As I promised in the past: I will continue to advance reforms in the ports despite pressure and threats. I trust law enforcement authorities to do their jobs well." The reforms would build private ports to compete with the government-owned, monopolistic ones in Ashdod and Haifa.

In 2012, the port union came under fire when reports surfaced that its crane operators were only working half shifts, but receiving full pay. Their salaries range from 35,000-45,000 a month, about 6-8 times the median worker's salary in Israel.

Ben Hartman contributed to this report.

Posted but not written by:  Lou Sheehan