The State Attorney filed an indictment Tuesday with the Central District Court against Rabbi Yitzhak Arazi, the former head of the Chief Rabbinate’s import departments, for allegedly accepting hundreds of thousands of shekels in bribes.
The indictment against Arazi includes ten charges, three of them for bribes and seven charges of breach of trust. Importers Ahmed Saadi, David Dan, Kfir Cohen and Tamir Products were also indicted in the Rishon Lezion Magistrate's Court for bribery.
The Chief Rabbinate Import Department serves as the supreme authority to set guidelines for all food importers interested in obtaining a kashrut certificate for their imported products and for issuing kashrut certificates for raw materials and food products imported into the State of Israel.
Rabbi Arazi served as director of the import department from 1997 until the case against him was opened. In his capacity, Rabbi Arazi worked with kashrut overseers, importers and consultants who applied for kosher certificates, and he held the exclusive authority to issue kashrut certificates for all food products imported into the State of Israel, except meat products.
According to the indictments, Rabbi Arazi took bribes and violated Chief Rabbinate regulations in a systematic manner for years, in connection with the improper relationship he had with about 11 importers who sought to obtain kashrut certificates for products imported into the country. He allegedly received envelopes with cash in return for approving fast-tracking the kashrut certificates without going through the normal procedures to receive the certificates.