Lahav 433's National Fraud Investigations Unit (Yaha) recently concluded a complex criminal investigation into alleged extortion, bribery, fraud, and breach of trust at the top of the rabbinical court system.
As part of the investigation, police questioned three senior officials, including a former Chief Rabbi, who was questioned on suspicion of extortion, just one day after a judge on the Great Rabbinical Court was summoned for interrogation under caution as well.
According to the police statement, as part of a covert investigation conducted against the three, suspicions emerged that they exploited their senior positions in the rabbinical courts to extort another high-ranking official, while seeking to advance personal interests.
The affair began with a complaint filed by a senior district court judge, who claimed that inappropriate pressure was being exerted on him by elements within the Great Rabbinical Court to influence his rulings on high-value lands managed by the court's authority.
Last March, as part of the investigation, Lahav 433 investigators raided the offices of the Great Rabbinical Court to find relevant e-mails and documents.
A senior judge is suspected of forcing a subordinate judge to change rulings and documents by threatening to withhold his promotion unless he complied.
The investigation, which from the outset was overseen by the Economic Department of the State Prosecutor’s Office, has concluded, and the case file has now been transferred for the prosecution’s review and decision regarding further proceedings.