Worker employed by Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s wife is arrested

Israeli police arrested a foreign worker accused of being employed illegally by Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s wife.

The Filipina, known as Virginia, was arrested Sunday in Tel Aviv in a joint raid with the Oz immigration unit, Haaretz reported.

Barak’s wife, Nili Priel, admitted last week that she had illegally employed a foreign worker a year after it was revealed that the woman worked as a housekeeper in the Barak-Priel household.

The woman had been employed legally in Israel as a caretaker, but remained cleaning houses after her license expired, according to reports.

Priel made her confession after the case was closed for lack of evidence. The case was reopened recently by Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein shortly before the worker was arrested. She was located by a reporter for Israel Radio.

Priel’s request that she be levied a fine in order to end the case was rejected. A full investigation is now in the offing.