The head of a local authority has been detained by the National Fraud Investigation Unit in Lahav 433 on Monday on suspicion of involvement in public corruption.
Searches are being conducted in the homes of officials and authority offices, and additional senior officials have been summoned for investigation.
According to the Israel Police, the investigation “is being supported by additional enforcement and supervisory bodies that cooperate, each according to their field of activity, including the Civil Administration, the Tax Authority, the Electric Company, the Civil Attorney’s Office, the Land Enforcement Authority, and more.”
Simultaneously, enforcement actions are being taken at several sites in the council’s territory in cooperation with additional enforcement and supervisory bodies. The investigation is in its early stages, and additional actions are expected.
PAYROLL & HR CONTROLS (PREVENTING “GHOST” SCHEMES)
Payroll fraud is often the hardest to detect because it “looks” like a normal business expense.
- Segregation of Duties (SoD): The person who adds new employees to the system must not be the same person who approves the monthly pay run.
- Mandatory Vacation Policy: Require all financial and HR staff to take 5–10 consecutive days of leave annually. Fraud often surfaces when the perpetrator isn’t there to “hide” the trail.
- Ghost Employee Audit: Perform a quarterly “Headcount Reconciliation” where managers must physically verify every name on their payroll list exists.
- Self-Pay Blocking: Ensure the payroll software has a hard-coded block preventing administrators from editing their own salary or bank details.