Israel - Police intend to recommend filing an indictment against
Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto -- a renowned spiritual leader among businessmen
and celebrities in Israel and abroad -- and his wife Devorah for attempting to
bribe a police officer, a legal source told Israel Hayom on Monday.
According to the source, who declined to give his name, the
state prosecutor and not the police informed the rabbi of the case against him,
once it was officially approved by the head of the Israel Police Investigation
and Intelligence Department.
This is due to the allegation that the officer
Pinto allegedly tried to bribe, Brig. Gen. Ephraim Bracha, heads the National
Fraud Unit, which is investigating the incident.
Pinto and his wife were detained in October last year and
questioned under caution for offering a bribe, paying a bribe and money
laundering. They were released under strict conditions.
According to police suspicions, Pinto offered Bracha -- at
the time a high-ranking officer in the Investigation and Intelligence Department
-- 100,000 shekels in exchange for information about another fraud
investigation against the charitable organization Hazon Yeshaya, for which
Pinto served as honorary head.
Bracha relayed the information to the relevant
authorities and the police launched an undercover investigation against the
rabbi. During the investigation, Pinto's wife apparently handed a file
containing the alleged bribe money to members of Bracha's family.
Devorah Pinto was hospitalized after a suicide attempt three
days after the case was uncovered.
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