Bet Shemesh & The Holyland Scandal
There has been another arrest in the Holyland affair. Israel Police today arrested former Jerusalem Local Planning and Building Commission chairman Matti Huta on suspicion of involvement in the affair. Huta is currently the Beit Shemesh Municipality director general. Investigations into the Holyland affair have embroiled many high-ranking Jerusalem officials, including former prime minister and Jerusalem mayor, Ehud Olmert and his successor as mayor, Uri Lupolianski. Police suspect that, between 1999 and 2008, the Holyland Development Company and associated land developers paid tens of millions of dollars in bribes to senior decision makers in the Jerusalem municipality, members of its planning and construction committee and officials in the Israel Lands Administration.