It has been almost a year since a criminal indictment was handed down against former high-ranking Israel Police official Menashe Arbiv, who faces charges including fraud, bribery and breach of trust connected to his dealings with Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto. Arbiv was first placed on suspension, but eventually, he resigned from his high-ranking post of deputy-commissioner and his command as head of the Lahav 443 Serious Crimes Unit.

The case involved US Justice Department officials too, the FBI and other agencies, as Arbiv was accused of accepting bribes in the form of expensive hotel rooms in NYC and more, leading to the need to involve law enforcement and judicial officials abroad. The rabbi also assisted a daughter-in-law of Arbiv in obtaining a job and visa permitting her to work in the United States.

Ultimately, as the charges and proofs backing them mounted against him in the case, Arbiv signed the plea bargain agreement which convicts him of failing to perform his duty as a police official.

Rabbi Pinto also signed a plea bargain agreement in his case, admitting to bribing another former police official in involved in the case, Ephraim Bracha. The latter R”L took his own life as a result of the developments in the case.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)