The State Prosecutor has filed an extradition request with the Italian authorities for Boaz Yona, the former CEO of Heftsiba Building Development & Investments Ltd. He was arrested in Italy after fleeing Israel following the collapse of his company.
The Israeli authorities want to indict Yona on charges of aggravated fraud, registering false corporate documents, forgery, theft by an officeholder, theft by a manager, money laundering, and violation of the Securities Law.
The State Prosecutor and Israel Police have evidence that Yona defrauded hundreds of apartment buyers and several banks in the amount of NIS 300 million. He also filed false corporate documents in excess of NIS 1 billion. For years, he and those acting on his instructions in Heftsiba subsidiaries allegedly concealed these actions from both apartment buyers and the banks by keeping two sets of books.
Yona allegedly used money deposited by apartment buyers who neglected to register that their checks were solely for apartments still under construction for private purposes. As a result, these apartment buyers had no guarantee for their money.
Israel filed the extradition application a week before the deadline under Italian law. The State Prosecutor’s international and economics units, Tel Aviv District Prosecutor (taxation and economics), the Police National Fraud Unit, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs cooperated on the extradition request.
The Italian police arrested Yona and his wife in Castelnuovo del Garda in late August, and he has been in remand ever since. His attorney, Adv. Yair Golan, says that he has not yet decided whether to contest the extradition request. If Yona does so, the extradition process could take months.
Yona’s likely defense is that he is not a thief and cheat, but only a bankrupt businessman. Golan quoted Yona as saying, “I may have committed irregular or illegal acts, but the purpose was to save the business and help build it up.”
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on October 7, 2007
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2007