Officers from Israel Police's National Fraud Unit raided on
Thursday the home and office of Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, who is suspected of
accepting bribes, fraud and money laundering.
Thursday's raid was the culmination of months-long
undercover investigation. In the course of the investigation, Rabbi Metzger was
brought Thursday morning for a police interrogation under warning.
In 2005 Metzger was interrogated for a few hours by the
National Fraud Unit on suspicion of accepting perks equivalent to tens of
thousands of shekels from the David Citadel Hotel in Jerusalem, where he stayed
with his family for the high holidays.
Police began investigating Metzger due to suspicions that he
and his family paid only a nominal fee for their vacation at the hotel in
Jerusalem over Pesach 2004.
But during the investigation, police discovered
that the Metzgers also received huge discounts at David Citadel that same year
during the Sukkot and Shavuot holidays, and enjoyed similarly discounted stays
at other hotels.
At the time, According to the report, he had allegedly taken
two rooms for his family and was only asked to pay for meals.
At the time, the State was funding an apartment for the
chief Ashkenazi rabbi in Jerusalem's Rehavia neighborhood.
Following the investigation, police recommended that Metzger
be tried for fraud and breach of trust. In light of the police recommendation,
the chief rabbi suspended himself from the bench of the High Rabbinic Court and
from his membership in the committee for the appointment of rabbinic judges.
A year later, then-Attorney General Menachem Mazuz announced
that Metzger would not be indicted, but criticized the chief rabbi's conduct
and said he had lied to police investigators.
In December 2012 an indictment was filed against former
Chief Sephardi Rabbi Eliahu Bakshi-Doron for complicity in granting about 1,000
fictitious rabbinical ordination certificates to members of the security
services so that they could receive significantly higher wages.
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