Attorney General decided to file an indictment against MK David Bitan in bribery cases

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has decided to file an indictment against MK David Bitan in bribery cases related to his position in the Rishon Lezion municipality.
The affair known as the "1803 case" deals with the suspicion that between the years 2017-2011, Bitan and two of his friends received benefits from private parties, and in return acted to promote the interests of those parties. Earlier this year, Bitan recovered from a corona after being hospitalized for about a month in the intensive care unit.
Among the said private entities from which he received benefits are the "Danya Cebus" company and the CEO Ronen Ginzburg, a food department store chain, real estate developers and contractors. At the beginning of the period, Bitan held a variety of senior positions in the Rishon Lezion municipality, including the deputy mayor and chairman of the Planning and Construction Committee, and from March 2015 he served as MK.

The open investigation began at the end of 2017 after the approval of the Spokesman and the State Attorney.
During the interrogation, hundreds of interrogations were carried out, testimonies of more than 300 witnesses were collected and about 80 suspects were interrogated. Dozens of arenas were searched, 700 document binders were seized and economic seizures worth tens of millions of shekels were carried out. At the end of the investigation, the police position was that a sufficient evidentiary basis had been formed to substantiate suspicions against dozens of people involved, including Bitan - in his case, a sufficient basis had been formed in 12 of the cases.
The findings of the investigation revealed that Bitan, as part of his various public positions, both during his time as deputy mayor of Rishon Lezion and during his time as MK, received cash bribes amounting to hundreds of thousands of shekels, as well as a promise to receive apartments for his job.
In return, Bitan exercised his authority, influence, power and connections over various factors and led to a change in decisions, the issuance of permits of various kinds and a reduction in municipal payments. Bitan also caused a change in the legal opinion of professionals in the Tel Aviv municipality, accelerated processes in the payment of debts, etc.
As part of his activities as mentioned, Bitan initiated meetings in the Knesset and municipalities, contacted decision-makers and invested a great deal of effort in this endeavor. Bitan did all this in order to promote the interests of the business entities in whose service he operated and from whom he took favors.
Other cases investigated revealed that Bitan handled the case of many others, including a large food chain, in exchange for bribes of tens of thousands of shekels each, and it was found that during his time as MK continued to reach the Rishon Lezion municipality, there are meetings in the Rishon Lezion municipality He received favors. Some of the bribe money was given under the guise of donations and some was disguised through fictitious invoices. In one case, a promise was also received to receive two apartments in a real estate project.