The international manhunt is complete: The fugitive from Panama and the architect of the "scam of the century" have been extradited

Yaniv Moalem

The past weekend provided a painful reminder for those who believed that international borders would grant them immunity: in a series of joint operations by the International Department of the State Attorney's Office and the Israel Police's Interpol unit, two significant extraditions were completed. On one side of the terminal, Efraim Yaniv Moalem arrived in Israel, having fled to Panama at the last moment before the sentencing arguments stage after being convicted of VAT offenses and money laundering on a massive scale. On the other side, Patrick Bellaiche was put on a flight to Paris; he was one of the architects of the "scam of the century" in the field of carbon fraud in Europe, amounting to hundreds of millions of euros, who had fled to Israel and will be extradited to France to serve an actual prison sentence.

In 2019, two indictments were filed against Moalem, attributing to him VAT offenses under aggravating circumstances and money laundering using forged documents and fictitious invoices in very large volumes. Moalem confessed and was convicted on both indictments during 2022. The court scheduled sentencing arguments, but at this stage, Moalem fled Israel.

After the Israel Police's Interpol unit located Moalem in Panama, Israel, through Adv. Naomi Alpeleg and Adv. Matan Akiva from the International Department of the Ministry of Justice, requested his arrest and extradition. Moalem was arrested in Panama on 23.09.2024, the extradition request was approved by the authorities in Panama, and on Thursday, Moalem was extradited to Israel and brought before a judge for the renewal of his trial.

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Patrick Bellaiche

In addition, the extradition of Patrick Bellaiche from Israel to France was completed after he was convicted there in the "scam of the century" affair.

Bellaiche's extradition was carried out following a request from the French government to serve a four-year prison sentence (minus the days he spent in custody in France during his trial), which was imposed on him for his part in a large-scale VAT fraud affair in the field of carbon emission (CO2) quotas in France, carried out by an organized criminal group he was a partner in during 2008–2009, as well as for his part in money laundering carried out by the criminal group during 2008–2012.

The fraud affair in the field of carbon emissions was dubbed the "scam of the century," and Bellaiche was one of many defendants in this fraud.

The sophisticated criminals exploited the opportunity to trade CO2 emission quotas under the "Kyoto Protocol," which aims to reduce carbon dioxide emission pollution. The criminal group used a wide array of shell companies to purchase millions of tons of carbon quotas in transactions exempt from VAT (because their source is outside France), and then resold them in France while collecting VAT, but avoided transferring the collected VAT to the French authorities, or transferred only a negligible amount of it.

The criminal group in which Bellaiche operated led to the fraudulent receipt of 283,875,063 euros from the French authorities, with Bellaiche being directly involved in the fraud for an amount of 52,387,255 euros. Bellaiche received a payment of 530,000 euros for his part in the fraud. In addition, between 01.11.2008 and 27.11.2012, the criminal group acted to conceal and convert the proceeds of the fraud offenses described above by making money transfers to shell companies outside France, while opening bank accounts for the French companies in foreign countries.

Bellaiche acted to make two companies under his control available to the criminal group for the implementation of the project described above. Thus, in December 2008, he changed the articles of association of the two companies so that the purpose of trading carbon quotas was added to them. Bellaiche effectively managed the activity of these two companies, but at the same time ensured that two of his nieces were registered as their straw directors. These two companies were directly linked to the fraudulent receipt of VAT in the amount of 52,387,255 euros as mentioned above. Bellaiche was also part of the money laundering regarding the proceeds of the fraud by ensuring the opening of bank accounts in Hong Kong and Cyprus for the two companies, performing money transfers of the proceeds of the crime to these bank accounts, and more.

Bellaiche was present during his trial in the first instance in France, but on the date the verdict was given in 2016, in which he was convicted and sentenced to 4 years in prison, he was already in Israel. Bellaiche appealed against the verdict, and in the appeal, he was not present himself, but was represented by an authorized attorney on his behalf, as the law in France allows. On 28.06.2017, Bellaiche's appeal was rejected and the 4-year prison sentence minus the days of detention was confirmed. This verdict became final on 04.07.2017, as no further appeal was filed.

29.02.2024 — the extradition request regarding Bellaiche was received in Israel.

24.11.2025 — the International Department filed a petition with the Jerusalem District Court to declare Bellaiche extraditable to France.

13.01.2026 — the petition was accepted by the court and Bellaiche was declared extraditable to France.

29.06.2026 — the Supreme Court rejected Bellaiche's appeal against his declaration, and it became final.

After the Minister of Justice signed an extradition order, Bellaiche was extradited on Thursday to France. The extradition case was handled by the International Department of the State Attorney's Office. The extradition of the wanted person was carried out in cooperation with the Israel Police and the Interpol unit in the Special Tasks Department of the Israel Police.