"There has been a rise in the number of criminal investigations involving real estate, planning and construction," Major General Yohanan Danino, head of the police's Investigations Branch, told a conference of internal auditors in Jerusalem Thursday.

"We have designated corruption in the property sector as one of the biggest problems today, so we decided to emphasize it. During the past year, we reached the point where out of 63 regional planning commissions, we are in the process of completing investigations against 11, and I assume that we will file indictments against most of them."

Also present was the head of the national fraud squad, Brigadier General Shlomi Ayalon, who said the police have identified improper behavior in particular in the local authorities. "Where there is no effective control, we see corruption out of control," he said.

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However, Ayalon stressed, Israel is not a corrupt country. In corrupt nations, he explained, economic crimes are not investigated at all, whereas this year, the police opened 300 such files. Danino added that the number of such crimes exposed in the last year has risen not because there is more corruption, but because more of it is being brought to light.

Danino admitted that there is a problem of leaks from police investigations. The public has the right to know about the opening and closing of a criminal investigation, but not about its progress, he said. He added that the new police commissioner, David Cohen, agrees with him, and they are trying to improve the situation.

As to the Harel embezzlement affair, Ayalon said that it is hard to understand how an institution that handled hundreds of millions of shekels could allow a single individual to manage it all for 20 years. He said that the embezzlement could have been prevented with proper internal controls and auditing.

Danino declined to comment specifically on Arcadi Gaydamak and his shopping spree, but said that he did not think Israel has turned into a refuge for oligarchs. However, he added, the police must determine whether such foreign investors are people Israel wants to have.