The Tax Authority, through a Tel Aviv Investigations Tax Assessor, is conducting an investigation against a luxury watch dealer, on suspicion that he acted to smuggle luxury watches into the country, and committed money laundering offenses, offenses under the Income Tax Ordinance, the Customs Ordinance, and the Import and Export Ordinance.
The suspicions against the dealer arose as part of another investigation conducted by the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Police, during which he was arrested - and a large number of luxury watches were seized during a search of his home.
After no documentation was found at customs for the import of the watches, and since the suspect did not present receipts for their purchase or details of the people who gave him the watches, suspicion of smuggling arose.
Following this suspicion, a separate investigation was opened.
As part of the investigation, another search was conducted at his home last week, and additional watches, cash, and a luxury vehicle were seized.
The investigation also shows that the suspect reports being an exempt trader and owning a small business - that is, with an income of less than 120,000 shekels per year - while the property found and the findings of the investigation so far indicate a much higher volume of transactions, without reporting to the Tax Authority.
In a hearing held at the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court, Judge Avital Amsalem-Gilboa accepted the position of the Authority and the police, determined that there was reasonable suspicion that the offenses had been committed, and emphasized the significant scope of the suspicions and that they included offenses under the Money Laundering Prohibition Law.
In light of this, the judge ordered the extension of the validity of the seized watches for an additional 180 days, starting from May 1.
The investigation continues.
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