By Jonathan Lis   Fri., October 09, 2009 Tishrei 21, 5770  Israel Time: 01:45 (EST+7)

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1119813.html

The Ramle Magistrate Court released Benny Tabin to seven days house arrest yesterday. Tabin is suspected of money laundering, as part of a broader investigation into an Israeli organization involved in drug deals worth tens of millions of dollars, which is believed to have been carried out over many years.

Most of the deals are believed to have been carried out by Israeli kiosk owners in Japan.

Tabin had been a key figure in the Likud party during the past two decades, and is considered to have had very close ties with business figures like David Appel and Shlomi Oz, who were closely linked to Likud leaders - especially Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert. Both businessmen had run-ins with the law and were investigated On suspicion of wrongdoing.

Tabin was convicted in 1993 with issuing false receipts to Likud for a total of NIS 1 million during the national election campaign of 1988, and in the 1989 local municipal elections campaign. He was sentenced to eight months imprisonment but this did not prevent his continued involvement in the party and links to top ranked Likud members.

His influence, and that of his friends in the party, evaporated only after the split in Likud and the decision to remove the selection of party MKs from the hands of the party's Central Committee.

Tabin is not suspected of having had any involvement in the drug deals - only in laundering money from those exchanges. He has claimed that he had no idea where the money originated.

"The police investigators need to be careful before they arrest someone. The police admits that it has nothing against me," Tabin said yesterday, a short while after being released to house arrest.

However, the police insisted that the suspicions against Tabin are solid and that at the completion of the investigation he will be indicted.

Police suspect that Tabin joined up with Tamir Levy, one of those held in connection with the case, and established a joint venture aimed at laundering large sums of money originating from drug deals carried out by other members of the organization.

However, persons close to Tabin argued yesterday that he had not known where the money was from and that he believed the business he was setting up with Levy was legitimate, and that its purpose was the recycling of catalytic converters in Europe.

"He linked up with the wrong people. When you lie down with dogs, one must not be surprised that you wake up with fleas," a family member said of Tabin.

Shahar Mandelman, Tabin's attorney, says that his client is not involved in the drug case.

"Benny Tabin is not suspected of drug violations," he said. "It is important to stress this. He is suspected of violations related to money laundering. His only mistake was that he had legitimate business ties with one of the persons involved in the [drug] affair."

The key figure in the drug affair, and who police believe is at the head of the organization, is Yaakov Chachashvilli, an Israeli who has lived in recently in Estonia. Police believe that he had set up a network that trafficked in various types of drugs, including ecstasy, heroin and cocaine, from Japan to other countries in the world.

Police also say that Chachashvilli and his crew regularly laundered money accumulated from their drug trafficking in order to hide its origins. The laundering employed various methods, including real estate deals abroad, and a company for bottle recycling. But investigators say that the organization used kiosks run by young Israelis in Japan also for laundering their cash.