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| Rabbi Shlomo Shlush |
Israeli police have recommended that prosecutors should charged the Haifa chief rabbi with fraud among other crimes after a lengthy police investigation, according to press reports in Israel.
The National Fraud Unit recommended that Rabbi Shlomo Shlush be prosecuted for offenses related to bribery, fraud, breach of trust, and abuse of public office.
Following a three-year investigation, the head of the Investigative Unit of the Police, Yoav Segalovich, accepted the recommendations of investigators and the case will be brought before the public prosecutor in the coming days.
The rabbi insists that he was the one who suffered from extortion.
In 2008, police filed a complaint against Shlush following a report by the State Comptroller, charging him with fraud.
In 2010, the Attorney General ordered the government to investigate the rabbi, prompting numerous investigations of the rabbi and of his assistants. Although investigators found that the rabbi was taking bribes and threatening companies with the loss of their kosher certification for reasons unrelated to religious law, no charges were filed.
“These are extremely serious charges against the rabbi. It is pretty pathetic that a leading rabbi acted like a street thug,” Joel Fisher, 42, of Tiberias, Israel told YourJewishNews.com after learning about the police desicion.
The rabbi’s lawyer blamed the allegations on political opponents.