Dec. 30, 2009, 8:56 AM, From:www.upi.com

Serious charges, including money laundering and bribery, have been leveled against the mayor of Bat Yam, Israel, a review of police documents indicates.

The confidential documents, reviewed by judges in Rishon Lezion, contain allegations in addition to the public charges filed against Bat Yam Mayor Shlomi Lahiani, arrested Monday in a televised police raid on his home, The Jerusalem Post reported Wednesday.

The arrest culminated a two-year undercover investigation that focused on suspicions of fraud, money laundering, bribery and the alleged use of public funds for personal profit, the Post said.

Lahiani has denied all charges. He was released under house arrest Tuesday for an eight-day period, during which he will be barred from entering the Bat Yam government building, the newspaper said.

During Lahiani's court appearance Monday, police told the court the mayor was suspected of using public funds to pay a parking ticket and of illegally claiming advertising revenue by failing to declare his stake in a local newspaper chain that publishes Bat Yam's ads, the Post said.

However, the confidential files include the alleged receipt of "grants" by Bat Yam's planning and construction committee, which police said they suspected could be bribes.

The documents also outlined an alleged money-laundering scheme in which city employees took out loans at their banks, transferred the funds to Lahiani, who then paid them back in cash, the Post said.

The newspaper said investigators also examined an income source that allowed Lahiani to pay down a multi-million dollar debt owed to a bank.