The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court on Sunday evening, 15 January 2012, ordered one of the six Eida Vaad Artzi tax fraud defendants held over for an additional four days. The court decided the evidence against R’ Shmuel Lubitzky was compelling enough to order him held in prison for an additional four days. At the time of this report, the status of the other five defendants remains unclear.

Defense attorney Uri Goldman of the law firm defending some or all of the Eida defendants explained to Chadrei Chareidim that at present, the suspects are being questioned and it is simply too soon to know what direction the case and the ongoing investigation will take.

When asked who hired the prestigious firm of tax law experts to represent the defendants, Goldman is quoted as saying “the law office received the brochos from a number of prominent rabbonim to permit us to take on the case”.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)