BREAKING: Massive Mossad Corruption Scandal, Seven Suspects Arrested, Three are Senior Officials

שערוריית השוחד בגוף הביטחוני – כל הסימנים מצביעים על המוסד

I reported here last January that an Israeli reporter published a story about a major security scandal involving an unnamed Israeli security agency.  By a process of deduction mentioned in that post, I determined the scandal involved the Mossad and not any other security agency.  But since the reporter didn’t reveal any other aspects of the case, I guessed that it involved thousands of dollars of comped Mariah Carey tickets offered illegally to the Mossad chief, Yossi Cohen.  Unfortunately, Cohen was never charged with a crime in that case.

But I appear to have been wrong in one particular element of my reporting, since a second report has been published (Hebrew), which reveals fresh details in the case.  This story has a Channel 10 TV news report worth listening if you know Hebrew.

The scandal did indeed involve corruption, as I first reported.  But the new article notes that seven individuals were arrested last December, three of whom were ‘senior security officials.’  Even this report doesn’t name the agency, but I am confident it is the Mossad.

The arrestees conspired to create a fraudulent tender system under which the Mossad would release an RFP to various companies.  The bidding process was rigged to favor specific companies which were part of the conspiracy.  The winning bid was inflated in order to accommodate a kickback that was returned to the Mossad employees.  Israel media says the stolen funds amounted to a “vast sum.”

It appears that the Mossad employees arrested were not part of the agency’s operational personnel, but the financial staff.  This doesn’t minimize the damage since the news reports called these officials “senior” staff.  My guess is that it would involve the equivalent of the chief financial officer or the director of purchasing.

While I don’t favor theft of taxpayer funds and am glad these people were caught (if they are guilty), I also reject secret police and secret arrests which protect only the government agency doing the silencing.  In this case, Israeli police arrested these men secretly, held them secretly for weeks, and placed a ten-month gag order on the entire case; all in order to prevent the Israeli public from knowing that the Mossad can’t keep track of the vast sums of money the Israeli taxpayer gives it.