Social Equality Minister May Golan flouted police’s attempts to question her Monday evening about her role in alleged widespread financial crimes in her office, and instead opted to attend the remand hearing of another suspect in the probe, to demand that police release him.

The Likud minister showed up at the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court, in solidarity with her former parliamentary adviser, Ehud Gabbai, who was arrested on suspicion of fraud.

Police, who have been probing Golan and her circle for months, went public with their investigation Monday morning. They arrested Gabbai and carried out a series of raids on the homes of Golan’s associates and the Social Equality Ministry offices in Jerusalem.

In a statement announcing the investigation, police said they suspect Golan and her circle of fraud, misusing public funds for private purposes, creating fictitious positions in the Social Equality Ministry and concealing sources of funding.

All these offenses were committed through the use of NGOs and government systems as a “tool for illegally extracting funds,” police added.

Later that day, Golan was summoned for questioning by investigators in the police’s Lahav 433 major crimes unit. Although her defense attorney first........

© The Times of Israel