The Magistrate's Court in Rishon Lezion sentenced Yael Halevi to 25 months in prison and a fine of NIS 50,000 after Halevi acted to obtain tax refunds for her clients using forged documents in order to receive a higher commission.
In this way Halevi obtained false refunds in the amount of over one million shekels and in addition omitted from reporting income amounting to 1.2 million shekels.
After an evidentiary process, Halevy was convicted that while she was the owner and manager of a business called "Direct Credit", which dealt, among other things, in tax refunds for employees, she or by clerks who worked under her, submitted false annual reports to tax officials throughout the country on behalf of her clients.
The Magistrate's Court in Rishon Lezion, photo: Koko
Attached to the reports were, among other things, documents falsified by Halevi and the clerks allegedly testifying to the entitlement of her clients to a tax refund for an incapacitated relative, when the clients' signatures on the false applications were often forged as well. Halevi agreed with the clients that the commission for her services would be worth a certain percentage of the tax refund to be received for them, worked to increase the refund.
In addition, Halevi reported to the tax authorities a smaller income than she actually had while submitting false invoices to the authorities and thus prevented periodic reports amounting to at least NIS 1.2 million.
She was convicted of forgery, fraud and solicitation as well as tax offenses.
Income Tax branch, photo: Yehoshua Yosef
As part of the arguments for the punishment, Attorney Yifat Gandkan claimed that: "The facts of the case show that the defendant turned her business into a factory of forgeries, while fraudulently taking advantage of innocent customers who placed their trust in her, the defendant caused the clerks who worked for her to commit serious offenses and they sentenced Their actions.... The defendant took advantage of the reputation she was able to obtain through the fraudulent act she committed in order to obtain more clients who would pay her more and more money, and at the same time she also committed tax offenses." The highest since Halevy defrauded 76 clients, falsified hundreds of documents and worked to mislead the tax officials in Israel. On the other hand, Halevy's attorney claimed that a decade had passed since the opening of the investigation, a period in which Halevy's financial and medical condition deteriorated.
In the sentencing, Vice President Judge Shirley Dekel-Neva stated that: "As for the extent of the defendant's damage to protected values, this is a significant and actual damage, given the aggravating circumstances in which they were committed, and the damages caused to the public purse and the defendant's clients. The defendant left her clients to deal with the tax authorities alone , who interrogated them and demanded that they receive back the tax refunds they received in excess, when sometimes tens of thousands of shekels were in question. Some of the takers who testified in court stated that they had difficulty raising the funds they were required to return, and some testified to the great heartache they were caused when it was discovered that a false application had been submitted in their name as if their children were Incompetent."
Judge Dekel Neve added: "The reason that led the accused to commit the crimes was her desire to make light financial gains. The accused claimed that she committed the crimes subject to the second charge (the tax crimes - HI) because she was in financial distress but did not support her words with the relevant documents for the period in which the offenses were committed".
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