Sunday, January 1, 2017

Former Chief Rabbi Metzger going to jail in NIS 10m. fraud case


Former Ashkenazi chief rabbi Yona Metzger has reportedly reached a plea agreement with state prosecutors over a slew of corruption and bribery charges involving some NIS 10 million ($2.5 million).

Metzger will plead guilty to fraud, theft, conspiracy, breach of trust, money laundering, tax offenses and accepting bribes, in exchange for a reduced jail sentence, Channel 2 reported Wednesday.

The plea deal was offered after months of negotiations between Metzger’s attorneys and senior officials in the State Attorney’s Office, the report said.

The report did not provide details on the length of the prison sentence the former chief rabbi would receive under the agreement.

Last year, the Jerusalem District Court charged Metzger with accepting some NIS 10 million ($2.58 million) in bribes. He is accused of keeping NIS 7 million ($1.8 million) for himself. [...]

8 comments:

  1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mRFW7sDls4

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  2. He was known to be a dubious character before he became chief rabbi but got in due to the influence of Litvish gedolim who wanted someone subservient to them in the influential position.

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  3. Thanks for sharing - interesting how Bennie Rabinowitz avoided answering the question about the chilul Hashem and the appointment to chief Rabbi - http://www.rationalistjudaism.com/2016/12/the-legacy-of-rav-elyashiv.html I was wondering how we critical thinkers view the appointment and the subsequent disgrace ?

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  4. It was/is an embarrassing episode, almost impossible to deny, and calls into question many assumptions about rabbinic leadership.

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  5. I saw a comment on a different thread referring to the chareidi world as fully Torah observant.

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  6. I saw a comment on a different thread referring to the Rabbanut in Israel as a respected body:
    "If it is believed that those administering it are not capable of doing
    it correctly by a significant number of respected bodies (including the
    Rabbanut in Israel),"

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