Ruth David
Ruth DavidFlash 90

Ruth David, the former Chief Prosecutor for the Tel Aviv District, was arrested Tuesday and spent the night in custody. She is suspected of obstruction of justice and corruption-related offenses in the investigation that centers on Ronel Fisher, a prominent attorney and journalist.

According to Army Radio, “at least two judges” are also involved in the case.

Fisher has been under arrest since April. He is suspected of using his influence with senior police officers, some of whom he represented in court, to provide people with information about ongoing investigations against them.

David reportedly had a working relationship with Fisher. She is suspected of assisting Fisher in attempts to coordinate testimony between various suspects and witnesses. According to Haaretz, the suspicions against her also date back to the time when she was the Tel Aviv Chief Prosecutor.

As an attorney, she has been involved in some of the highest-profile cases in the last decade, and her arrest is seen as earth-shattering, in terms of the Israeli legal world.

On Monday, former Maariv publisher Ofer Nimrodi was arrested on suspicion of bribing Fisher in return for information about investigations against him. Nimrodi is the son of tycoon Yaakov Nimrodi and the director of Hachsharat Hayishuv, the Israel Land Development Company – a very large conglomerate with holdings in real estate, infrastructure, energy, hotels and billboards.

Nimrodi was released to two days of house arrest. Fisher is considered a protege of Nimrodi's, since the days in which Nimrodi owned Maariv.

The arrests were made possible after Fisher's former assistant turned state witness. She reportedly provided information last week that also led to the arrest of two brothers who are active in real estate, as well as the former director of Netivei Yisrael, the National Transport Infrastructure Company, Shai Baras. Baras is reportedly suspected of bribing a police officer in return for information from police investigations.

The case against Fisher broke open after Alon Hassan, who heads the workers' union in the Ashdod Port, told police that Fisher had tipped him off in advance about a planned police raid at the port. The officer suspected of tipping off Fisher has been named as Major Eran Malka.