JERUSALEM (VINnews) — The Israeli Ministry of Education has filed a massive lawsuit against an association in Ashkelon, alleging what it says is one of the largest fake-reporting fraud schemes ever uncovered in a Torah institution.

According to the statement of claim published by Galei Tzahal, the association reported to the Ministry of Education that 648 kollel students and yeshiva students were enrolled in its institutions, while in reality only dozens of students were actually studying there. Through these reports, the association allegedly succeeded in receiving millions of shekels from state funds.

Data presented in the lawsuit states that between 2012 and 2022, more than 40 million shekels were transferred to the association based on the number of kollel and yeshiva students it continuously reported.

The fraud was uncovered during 2022, when a covert inspection at the institution revealed that at most only a few dozen students were present on site.

Investigators found that inside the relatively small building, which was claimed to house six different Torah institutions operated by the association, there were actually billiards and ping-pong tables in the basement shelter and kindergartens on the first floor.

The second and third floors could accommodate only about 100 people in total, and there investigators found dozens of kollel students, while the yeshiva that had been reported to the Ministry of Education did not exist at all.

According to testimony obtained by investigators, the fraud scheme apparently operated through the fictitious registration of kollel students, who in return allegedly gave part of their stipends back to the association in cash.

At this stage, the Ministry of Education is seeking only about 3 million shekels from the association, representing the support funds transferred at the beginning of 2022, during the period when the inspections took place. However, the ministry added that there is reasonable basis to believe the fraudulent method had been operating for many years beforehand.

Journalist Tuvia Yagelnik summarized the report on the affair by saying: “This is only the tip of the iceberg of a large industry of fictitious reporting about kollel students in the Haredi community.”