Subscribe to Print Edition | Tue., May 13, 2008 Iyyar 8, 5768 | | Israel Time: 03:14 (EST+7) web haaretz.com   Back to Homepage Rosner's Domain Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Advertising Books Peres Conference Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File

Eight people held for fraudulently bringing foreign workers to Israel By Ruth Sinai The Immigration Police yesterday arrested eight people, including two civil servants, on suspicion of having fraudulently imported hundreds of foreign workers to Israel in order to collect brokerage fees of thousands of dollars per worker. The Ramle Magistrate's Court remanded the chief suspect in the case for five days yesterday. The suspect, Dana Givati, works for the Industry, Trade and Employment Ministry's Be'er Sheva office, where she is responsible for issuing permits authorizing people to employ foreign caregivers. Advertisement The other suspects include three brothers who own two manpower agencies that import caregivers from abroad, an employee of the National Insurance Institute's Be'er Sheva office, a businessman from the South and another man. The investigation began with suspicions that Givati was paid thousands of shekels to issue a visa for a foreign caregiver who, when she arrived, discovered that no job awaited her. That case sparked a four-month undercover investigation - the largest probe to date into the issuance of fictitious visas for foreign workers. Police suspect that Givati and the NII employee located elderly or handicapped people who were eligible to employ foreign caregivers, but had opted not to do so. Visas were then issued in the names of these "employers," without their knowledge, and caregivers were brought in from India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Philippines. But when the caregivers arrived, after paying the manpower agencies thousands of dollars apiece, they discovered that no jobs awaited them. The NII employee is also suspected of having taken a bribe to approve a foreign caregiver for someone who was not entitled to one. Police said that other manpower agencies may also have been involved in the scam, which affected anywhere from 200 to 400 foreign workers. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Death of a heroine Irena Sendler, who saved 2,500 Jews during the Holocaust, dies at 98. Apocalyptic tidings Holy See warns of nightmarish perils if Mideast nuclear arms race is not halted.

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