Israeli fraud teams investigate Ehud Barak’s foreign funds

The Israeli police’s fraud squad and the Israel Money Laundering and Terror Financing Prohibition Authority are looking into whether former Prime Minister Ehud Barak failed to report capital he held overseas.

According to a report published by Haaretz yesterday, Barak was asked whether he knew an investigation was underway to ascertain what funds he owned overseas. He said this was “nonsense”.

A spokesman for the public prosecutor refused to confirm or deny any of the allegations.

Barak worked as a businessman between 2001 and 2007 after losing the presidential elections and until he returned to government as minister of Security in Ehud Olmert’s government. Since the 2013 elections, he returned to his business as an investor, partner and consultant linked to the Swiss investment private bank Julius Baer and the strategic consulting firm Ergo.