Behind the Headlines

white collar crime has become a serious special phenomenon in Israel and although its rate is less than in many Western countries, the authorities and the public are gravely concerned, according to a senior police official, Benjamin Ziegel, who heads the fraud investigations department of the Israeli police force.

Addressing a symposium on the subject, Ziegel noted that while white collar crimes do not involve physical violence or cause large-scale morale and blemish the image of the country. Ziegel himself has been involved in investigations of crime by important public figures, such as Asher Yadlin, a prominent member of the Labor Party and former head of Kupat Holim who was sentenced to five years imprisonment last month for accepting bribes.

Ziegel said that since the Yom Kippur War the trend has been to report white collar crimes because the public is now convinced that the police will undertake a serious investigation in each case no matter how highly placed the accused individual may be Prof Shlomo Shoham of Tel Aviv University, another participant in the symposium, agreed that the trend is to try to root out corruption rather than cover it up.

However, he said, it is still difficult to guage the extent of white collar crime because there are many corporations and organizations that fail to report offenses by officials because it might tarnish their image or harm their business District Court Judge Dov Levin told the symposium that punishment should be severe for perpetrators of fiscal crimes such as bribery and fraud and especially where public servants embezzle public funds.

CITES LACK OF COOPERATION

Ziegel addressed the subject further in an article in the current issue of the Police Journal. He said there was insufficient cooperation between the public and police and even among the various police agencies. He said, for example, If a public servant reports the theft of tens of thousands of Pounds from his homes, the police will investigate the alleged robbery but it will not usually question how a public servant happened to have so much cash in his home. It may have been stolen money or black market money, Ziegel wrote.

Similarly, he said, when a traffic police man writes a ticket for a driver whose car is not registered in his name, there is always the possibility that the person has been evading taxes, a matter of interest to the fraud investigations department but rarely followed up. Ziegel said that his department had in its possession in 1976 some IL II million in forfelted illegal foreign currency compared to IL 4 million in 1975, an indication of how fiscal crime has increased.

The police official discussed the role of the press and communications media in exposing white collar crime. He found the record spotty. In some cases, premature press exposure gave advance warning to perpetrator who were able to dispose of evidence before the police reached them, he wrote.

In other cases, the press brought charges against innocent people. But there have been instances where the press was a step ahead of the police and presented facts that let to police investigations, Ziegel said. In any event, the public seems to be fed up with crime and corruption, especially on the part of officials who have held the public’s trust. White collar crime is increasing but so is its exposure. In fact, it has become an election campaign issue with every party promising a relentless drive against white collar criminals.