Police Commissioner Dudi Cohen told reporters Friday that the CEO of the Heftziba Building Development & Investments Company, Boaz Yona, and his wife Tamar were nabbed while dining in a small town near
Earlier this week, Tamar Yona gave interviews to the Israeli press in which she denied knowing where her husband was and claimed she was now "fighting like a lioness" to raise their children on her own.
Interpol became involved in the international search after Yona was spotted in Rumania by other Israeli business owners. The Heftziba CEO fled the country and broke off contacts with the company’s creditors three weeks ago after the firm went bankrupt.
“The arrest brought an end to the long manhunt carried out by the Israel Police National Fraud Unit, with international aid abroad," Cohen said. "Yonah is currently being investigated and his testimony is being collected. His wife will of course be freed."
Thousands of families who had spent their life savings and taken loans to purchase homes that were being built by Heftziba were left with huge debts and no homes. Many of them have taken over their unfinished apartments, connecting water and electricity in pirate manners. The Supreme Court ruled this week against a Peace Now petition to have them removed.
People who purchased apartments with the failed development firm were told that they could register their purchased property with the Israel Land Registry (Tabu), even without the form known as Form 50 that is normally included in the process.
Form 50 is a mandatory confirmation that documents the builder has fulfilled all its obligations to the Tax Authority. However purchasers of property from a company that has gone bankrupt or is in liquidation proceedings can register their apartment or house in their own names directly with the Land Registry, even without Form 50.