Fmr. MK Hanin Zoabi to Face Fraud Charges

Jerusalem, 7 April, 2021 (TPS) -- Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has decided to prosecute former Member of Knesset Hanin Zoabi for forgery and fraud offenses.

He has further decided to drop the investigation against the Balad party, of which she was a member.

Zoabi was questioned together with some 35 other suspects, including senior officials in Balad, on suspicion of committing forgery and fraud offenses in party documents submitted to the State Comptroller, in two general and local elections in 2013.

The investigation was conducted by the National Fraud Unit Lahav 433 and by the Economic Department of the State Attorney’s Office and focused on reports submitted to the State Comptroller by the party regarding donations prior to the elections.

The investigation found that party officials raised cash donations without submitting the required paperwork as required by law. When asked by the State Comptroller’s Office, the forms were filled retroactively.

Zoabi is suspected of using a fake document, falsifying corporate documents, and money laundering.

Balad rejected the accusations when the investigation was announced and described the police’s probe as “a dangerous escalation of the political persecution of the Arab leadership.”