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| Israel's chief rabbi Yona Metzger |
The Chief Rabbi of Israel, Yona Metzger, was detained by Israeli police after being accused of theft among other accusations, according to a statement released by Israeli police.
Police said that the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel was brought in for questioning on Thursday after suspicions arose that he was involved in pocketing money from donations.
Members of the economic crimes unit of the police raided the home and the office of Rabbi Yona Metzger Thursday afternoon after a two-month investigation into suspicions that Metzger was involved in fraud, theft, money laundering and bribery.
Police also detained another high level member of the Chief Rabbinate and two senior members of a non-profit organization.
According to a police press release, the police suspect that Metzger received hundreds of thousands of shekels from several nonprofit organizations, and pocketed the money for himself and distributed the money to his family members.
Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein and State Prosecutor Moshe Lador both green-lighted the police raid Thursday. Police seized several documents, computers and other property belonging to Metzger, and froze all his bank accounts.
Metzger was interviewed in 2005 on suspicion that he took bribes in a Jerusalem hotel, but the case was closed for lack of evidence.
His 10 year term as chief rabbi ends in a few months.