The State Attorney's Office on Sunday filed a lawsuit against 11 organizations affiliated with the ultra-Orthodox Kehilat Hamatmidim sect and more than 20 people who ran them, alleging they have defrauded the state of subsidies amounting to more than 52 million shekels ($13 million). According to the State Attorney's Office, the organizations effectively served as straw companies to create the false impression that the sect's school network was run by a host of entities, when in fact, all the entities were controlled by the same people and organizations. In some cases, the organizations inflated the number of students in the schools and used forged documents, the lawsuit alleges. Ariel Atari, an attorney for the organizations, said the lawsuit has no merit. "The fact that they filed it at this [late] stage suggests that the state believes the court might throw out the case," he said. Achva Berman, who works at the State Attorney's Office, told Israel Hayom that the lawsuit shows there was a "systematic and sophisticated scheme using NGOs that were used to fraudulently receive large sums from the state."
State: Haredi sect fraudulently received millions in subsidies
Lawsuit charges 11 organizations and 20 people affiliated with Kehilat Hamatmidim sect with fraudulently obtaining NIS 52 million by creating false impression of different entities and inflating student numbers • Groups' attorney: Case has no merit.
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