United Torah Judaism (UTJ) chairman MK Yitzhak Goldknopf is under a covert investigation by the Tax Authority, after the Attorney General approved the investigation's opening.
According to the Tuesday night report by i24NEWS journalist Avishai Grinzaig, Goldknopf declared 13 real estate properties in 2022, but the Tax Authority located at least three additional properties that had not been reported.
At the same time, the Authority examined a series of transactions involving his family members: The Beit Yaakov nonprofit, which is connected to Goldknopf, sold an apartment to his granddaughter below market value while concealing the family connection, after which the granddaughter transferred the apartment to her parents without compensation.
In a separate transaction from 2015, his son Israel gave his father half of an apartment as a gift, which was later sold. Additional allegations of tax evasion that was paid retroactively were also raised, as well as questions regarding the sources of funding for apartments - although on the latter issue, no decisive finding was reached.
It was also reported that during his tenure as Housing Minister, Goldknopf raised issues in meetings with mayors relating to preschools run by his son, contrary to the conflict-of-interest arrangement he had signed. Despite all of the above, no warning has yet been issued.
Goldknopf’s office rejected the allegations. According to the office, the old issues were examined and nothing was found; the granddaughter’s apartment is not connected to him; the claim regarding his son “never was and never happened"; no inquiry was received from an assessing officer; all purchases are lawfully documented; and the allegations about conversations regarding the Beit Yaakov network are "complete nonsense."
This is not the first time such allegations have been raised: In December 2022, Goldknopf was accused of owning an illegally-divided apartment and renting the units out for income. According to Haaretz, Goldknopf and his wife, who legally owns the apartment while the tax is paid from a joint account, did not request permits to split the property, and the municipality did not take action. Goldknopf told Haaretz that the property was not registered in his name, and that rights had been transferred to someone else in a transaction which was "duly reported." The statement also said that the tax payments were a standing order which accidentally continued even after the transfer of rights, and thanked Haaretz for drawing the matter to Goldknopf's attention.