Israeli police on Sunday questioned Israeli-American billionaire Shari Arison in connection with an ongoing bribery investigation into the country’s largest construction firm, Shikun & Binui, which is alleged to have bribed Kenyan officials to win lucrative road tenders.
“Shikun & Binui, and some of its executives should be prosecuted on suspicion they paid African officials millions of dollars in bribes for construction contracts, Israel Police and the Israel Securities Authority,” said on Sunday.
Shikun & Binui is suspected of having bribed Kenyan officials to advance projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars in Kenya and other countries, Reuters said.
Shikun & Binui’s subsidiary Solel Boneh International Holdings (SBI Holdings) is the firm working in Kenya. It was chosen to build the World Bank-funded Mau Summit-Kericho-Kisumu Highway for 14 billion shekels ($3.8 billion) in 2010. However, since that time, they are suspected of having bribed their way into more lucrative construction projects throughout the continent.
Investigators think there’s sufficient evidence to prosecute for crimes including bribing a foreign official, money laundering, and misreporting in company documents, the police and the securities authority said in a joint statement.
The police statement said that in Kenya alone, where their investigations were centered, “bribes totaling tens of millions of shekels were transferred, generating projects and benefits worth hundreds of millions of shekels”.