An associate "very close" to Interior Minister Aryeh Deri was questioned under caution by the police on Tuesday as part of an investigation into suspected irregularities in the Shas leader's real estate holdings.
Police investigators searched the man's home and office and both he and his daughter were brought in for questioning for two separate suspicions related to graft and financial irregularities, Channel 2 reported.
The identity of the two remains under a police gag order.
The probe centers around unreported real estate property owned by Deri and members of his family, including a vacation home in northern Israel and apartments owned by each of his nine children.
Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced on March 31 that a criminal investigation would be opened against Deri for suspected corruption, days after fresh fraud allegations were leveled against him.
Deri, who previously served a prison sentence for graft — also during his previous tenure as interior minister — identified himself as one of two senior lawmakers under investigation for corruption following a Channel 2 report on the probe. The second politician suspected of corruption was later named as Opposition Leader Isaac Herzog.
Deri, who ran on a campaign of representing the everyman, has sought to downplay allegations about his real estate holdings and said he would cooperate with the investigation to prove his innocence.
"Yesterday I found out that my wife and I have become real estate moguls," he said following the initial report. "We have owned an apartment for about 25 years, in which we raised nine children and for which we are still paying the mortgage. In addition, we have a vacation home in Safsufa for the extended family, including the grandchildren."
On Tuesday, Herzog shrugged off concerns about a possible criminal probe into his own suspected financial irregularities.
Responding to a report that police were seeking to question him under caution, Herzog said he was "completely calm."
Speaking at a Labour Party event in Tel Aviv, he said that "the role of a leader is to cope. To cope with crises, to cope with criticism and also to deal with plots."
"I will go wherever I need to, I will give answers to every question, to every claim, to every defamatory and malicious word, and we'll put this saga behind us," he said.
In a June 2014 report, former state comptroller Yosef Shapira determined that Herzog had exceeded the limit on expenses allowed in the Labor Party leadership primaries against Yachimovich but that he had not broken the law.
Accepting Herzog's explanation that an "innocent accounting mistake" had been made, Shapira decided against any financial sanction against the party leader.
This isn't the first time the Zionist Union chairman has faced suspicions relating to campaign funding.
He once memorably exercised his right to remain silent when he was investigated in 1999 as cabinet secretary, in connection with alleged campaign funding irregularities on the part of then-prime minister Ehud Barak.
Times of Israel
You make us feel ashamed.
An associate "very close" to Interior Minister Aryeh Deri was questioned under caution by the police on Tuesday as part of an investigation into suspected irregularities in the Shas leader's real estate holdings.
Police investigators searched the man's home and office and both he and his daughter were brought in for questioning for two separate suspicions related to graft and financial irregularities, Channel 2 reported.
The identity of the two remains under a police gag order.
The probe centers around unreported real estate property owned by Deri and members of his family, including a vacation home in northern Israel and apartments owned by each of his nine children.
Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced on March 31 that a criminal investigation would be opened against Deri for suspected corruption, days after fresh fraud allegations were leveled against him.
Deri, who previously served a prison sentence for graft — also during his previous tenure as interior minister — identified himself as one of two senior lawmakers under investigation for corruption following a Channel 2 report on the probe. The second politician suspected of corruption was later named as Opposition Leader Isaac Herzog.
Deri, who ran on a campaign of representing the everyman, has sought to downplay allegations about his real estate holdings and said he would cooperate with the investigation to prove his innocence.
"Yesterday I found out that my wife and I have become real estate moguls," he said following the initial report. "We have owned an apartment for about 25 years, in which we raised nine children and for which we are still paying the mortgage. In addition, we have a vacation home in Safsufa for the extended family, including the grandchildren."
On Tuesday, Herzog shrugged off concerns about a possible criminal probe into his own suspected financial irregularities.
Responding to a report that police were seeking to question him under caution, Herzog said he was "completely calm."
Speaking at a Labour Party event in Tel Aviv, he said that "the role of a leader is to cope. To cope with crises, to cope with criticism and also to deal with plots."
"I will go wherever I need to, I will give answers to every question, to every claim, to every defamatory and malicious word, and we'll put this saga behind us," he said.
In a June 2014 report, former state comptroller Yosef Shapira determined that Herzog had exceeded the limit on expenses allowed in the Labor Party leadership primaries against Yachimovich but that he had not broken the law.
Accepting Herzog's explanation that an "innocent accounting mistake" had been made, Shapira decided against any financial sanction against the party leader.
This isn't the first time the Zionist Union chairman has faced suspicions relating to campaign funding.
He once memorably exercised his right to remain silent when he was investigated in 1999 as cabinet secretary, in connection with alleged campaign funding irregularities on the part of then-prime minister Ehud Barak.
Times of Israel
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