Michael Kleiner, a former member of Knesset and the current president of the Likud party’s internal Supreme Court, was identified Wednesday among the suspects detained by the Israel Police’s Lahav 433 major crimes unit this week amid a probe into tax fraud.

The hard-right politician, who served in the Knesset on and off between 1982 and 2003, was detained over his alleged involvement in the case of a construction contractor suspected of hiding tens of millions of shekels in real estate assets from tax authorities despite undergoing bankruptcy proceedings since 2012.

“The investigation suggests the suspects acted systematically to hide their holdings from the authorities and rake in enormous sums,” police said on Monday, adding that officers had confiscated “much property” and will keep it conficated throughout the legal proceedings.

Along with Kleiner, police detained David Appel — a Likud activist and building contractor who was convicted of bribery in 2010 — as well as siblings Yaffa and Yitzhak Dayan.

Speaking with the Israel Hayom daily on Wednesday, Kleiner insisted that he had “always made sure to act properly while respecting the law and enforcement authorities, and that is the case here as well.”

Kleiner further said that he denies all of the allegations against him and believes “that law enforcement authorities will also reach the correct conclusions.”

“I was already questioned about these exact same matters back in 2023. I understand that the timing of the investigation now has a high public profile, but I have no intention of entering into this controversy,” he said.

Kleiner, in his capacity as president of the Likud’s internal Supreme Court, has recently been involved in two high-profile rulings that went against the interests of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Last week, the tribunal struck down Netanyahu’s bid to allow the party to cancel its primary in the event of a “wartime situation” and instead select candidates through an appointed committee controlled by........

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