25 February 2020
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The exchange of information on millions of financial accounts shared between countries under the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) is is leading to more investigations and arrests in Israel.
The Israeli Tax Authority has arrested two Israelis after it received information they had ILS 77m in unreported bank accounts held abroad. This following a large number of other recent arrests based on data obtained under the CRS.
The two were arrested as part of two different investigations conducted by Diamond Unit and Mole Investigator Haifa and Northern Investigations.
The first new suspect, Tel Aviv resident Yuri Gecht, was arrested on suspicion of not reporting his income for 15 years (2004-2019) and holding bank accounts in Luxembourg and Switzerland. It is suspected that ILS 64m was deposited in these account, and generated ILS 8m in profits. The arrest warrant indicates that Gecht did not report the accounts and the profits accumulated in them, according to local media.
The second suspect, Haifa resident Arie Levy, was arrested on suspicion of not reporting five accounts at different banks on the island of Jersey containing a total of ILS 12.8m. Levy is suspected of not reporting the accounts from 2017 until the present, and of having concealed the interest income from them.
Last month, the Tax Authority arrested three Israelis - Aharon Winkler, a resident of Tel Aviv, Vishay Tzur and Maya Bankov-Tzur, residents of Kibbutz Mishmar Haemek - on suspicion of failure to report overseas bank accounts and other tax offenses, after their names were included in the list of bank account holders.
Israel has also arrested Ruth Barbara Slater, a resident of Ramat Hasharon. She is suspected of failing to report bank accounts in Canada amounting to ILS3m.
The investigations against the three suspects and other undercover investigations are currently underway in light of the entry into force of the CRS Regulations, which provides Israel with financial information on Israel's finances and accounts across Europe.
The information shared includes identification, account, and financial information is exchanged, including the name, address, state of residence, and tax identification number of the account holder, as well as information concerning the reporting financial institution, account balance, and capital income.
The Israeli Tax Authority is also receiving detailed information under the FATCA agreement, under which the Tax Authority has begun sending information about the financial assets of its US-affiliated citizens to the US Internal Revenue Service, and in exchange is receiving information about Israelis with bank accounts in the US.
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