Testimony from Intermediaries

Israeli newspaper report that provides 3rd party evidence that the organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners is true

Israel’s largest newspaper Yediot Achronot reported that four men were arrested for not reporting income from organ mediation; the main suspect admitted that some organs were taken from prisoners of conscience in China, including Falun Gong practitioners

On November 17, 2006, Yediot Achronot, Israel’s largest newspaper, reported that four men accused of pocketing millions of dollars that patients had paid for organ transplants were arrested in Israel. Yaron Izhak Yodukin, CEO of Medikt Ltd. and his associates, faced charges of not reporting incomes earned by mediating organ transplants for Israelis in China and the Philippines. The arrests followed months of investigation after the main suspect admitted to an Israeli newspaper that the organs were coming from Chinese death row inmates and prisoners of conscience, including Falun Gong practitioners.

The following is an quote from the article:

“Yaron said in an undercover interview that the organs are harvested from people who oppose the regime, those sentenced to death and from prisoners of the Falun Gong sect, which is being persecuted in China.”

and what follows is the literal English translation of the above article.

Drophead: Senior management of a company that provides Israelis with organs from Chinese prisoners arrested

Headline: Organ Traders Evade Taxes

Subhead: Suspicion: Medikt managers evaded 30 million Shekels* – senior officials in Kupat Holim [Israeli medicare company] to be investigated – affair exposed following an investigative report by Yediot Aharonot.

By Oron Meiri, Buki Nae and Zohar Shahar Levi, Yediot Aharonot** reporters

Senior officials in Kupat Holim Klalit and insurance company Dikla are expected to be investigated regarding their involvement in the big tax evasion of middleman Itzhak Yaron of Medikt company, which mediated transplants of Chinese prisoners’ organs to Israelis. Yaron and Medikt manager Ilan Perri were arrested in recent days on charges of evading taxes on 30 million Shekels paid by Israelis for the organs.

This affair was exposed nine months ago in an investigative report by the Musaf Leshabat [the Weekend Magazine] of Yediot Aharonot. Yaron said in an undercover*** interview that the organs are harvested from people who oppose the regime, those sentenced to death and from prisoners of the Falun Gong sect, which is being persecuted in China.

The investigative report also exposed that Kupat Holim Klalit cooperated with him in sending Israelis for transplants in China, disregarding an explicit instruction from the general manager of the [Israeli] Ministry of Health.

The Tax Authority’s investigation, which was initiated because of the report, revealed that for a kidney transplant Israelis paid USD$71,000, and for a heart transplant USD$170,000. The National Unit for Field Intelligence and Investigations of the [Tax] Authority, headed by Dr. Haim Gabai, discovered that Medikt employees, among them a lawyer whose name has been banned from publishing, issued – according to suspicion – fictitious invoices that were provided to Kupat Holim Klalit and Dikla. According to the suspicion, the cost of transplants was substantially lower than the amount written on the invoices, and the employees pocketed the difference.

Early this week the investigation went public: the homes and offices of company representatives were searched, and material relating them to the suspicions attributed to them was confiscated. Yaron, 62, his assistant Peleg Matan, 32, and the lawyer, whose name was banned from publication, were arrested, and the court ordered to extend their arrest for 3 days. Yesterday Perri, 59, was also arrested.

In a hearing at the magistrates court in Tel-Aviv the representative of the Income Tax Authority, Shahar Damati, claimed that these are serious offenses. Perri’s defense attorneys, Tamir Kalderon and Liron Landa, claimed at the hearing that he acted properly. Judge Mordechai Peled ruled that there is reasonable suspicion against the suspect and extended his arrest for 5 days.

*Israeli currency. USD$1=4.5 Shekels
** Yediot Aharonot is the largest newspaper in Israel
*** i.e. – he wasn’t aware that he’s being taped by the reporter