Jerusalem – Ex-‘Israeli FBI’ Chief Convicted For Failing To Report Rabbi Pinto Bribery Attempt

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    FILE - Menashe Arbiv, former head of the Lahav 433 Unit sits at the courtroom at the Magistrate's Court in Rishon Letzion, February 15, 2018. Photo by Flash90Jerusalem – Former Lahav 433 police commander Menashe Arbiv was convicted in a plea bargain on Thursday of failing to report that Rabbi Yoshiyau Yosef Pinto offered to bribe him to thwart the criminal case against the famous rabbi.

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    The Rishon LeZion Magistrate’s Court, which issued the verdict, left open to the sides to argue about how severe Arbiv’s sentence should be, including whether the conviction could be modified to a court finding, as opposed to a formal conviction that would remain on his record.

    Though Arbiv refused Pinto’s offer, as head of Lahav 433, also referred to as “the Israeli FBI,” Arbiv is one of the most senior Israeli law enforcement officials in history to be convicted of a crime. Pinto himself was later convicted of other crimes and served one year in prison – a lenient sentence he obtained by turning state’s witness against Arbiv.

    Arbiv was initially indicted in March 2017 of both failure to report and breach of trust for a range of other financial allegations regarding Pinto, but those other allegations were dropped in the deal.

    In January 2016, a statement from then attorney-general Yehuda Weinstein’s office said Arbiv was suspected of having had inappropriately close relations with Pinto from 2010-2013, including after the famous rabbi was under investigation for bribery. However, Arbiv was given an extensive pre-indictment series of hearings to convince the State to drop the charges before the indictment was finally filed.

    According to the indictment, interactions between Arbiv and Pinto started in 2010 when Pinto was active in Ashdod and New York. Arbiv was in frequent contact with Pinto’s top aide, Yossi Amos, as part of his efforts to have a strong international prominent rabbinic connection, while Pinto wanted a strong police connection.


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