Moshe Mizrahi
Moshe MizrahiYonatan Sindel/Flash90

Former MK and police superintendent Moshe Mizrahi passed away Sunday after suffering cardiac arrest. He was 72 years old.

Before serving as a member of the Knesset, Mizrahi served in several positions in the police, most notably as the head of the investigations department.

Mizrahi entered the 19th Knesset as a Labor Party MK. Among other things, he acted as the head of the lobby for the fight against corruption in the public administration and promoted a bill according to which an elected official who is accused of an offense involving moral turpitude cannot return and be elected to public office afterwards.

He was not elected to the 20th Knesset, but returned to the Knesset following the resignation of MK Zuhair Bahlul.

Mizrahi was born in Tiberias and joined the police in 1976. About thirty years later he was appointed head of the national unit for investigations of serious international crimes.

During those years, he was considered one of the leaders in the fight against public corruption and led the investigations against Minister Avigdor Liberman, while the latter served as Director General of the Prime Minister's Office, against businessman David Apple and against former Maariv publisher Ofer Nimrodi.

During his tenure as head of the investigations department, he also dealt with cases against the late Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.