Retired top cop arrested in corruption scandal

Investigators questioned a former top police official Monday over his role in an ongoing corruption case, releasing the unnamed suspect early Tuesday morning to house arrest.

According to police, an attorney under investigation, Ronel Fisher, gave the recently retired major general free flights abroad with accommodations and the promise of a high-ranking position in a publicly traded company for his role.

The leader of the alleged corruption ring, Fisher has been the target of an investigation for over a year for a variety of charges, mostly dealing with him facilitating the transfer of sensitive legal documents between police and criminal suspects.

Fisher was arrested in July following a year-long investigation for allegedly selling confidential information to Ashdod Port union leader Alon Hassan about a corruption case against the port. Fisher was released to house arrest soon after, and was re-arrested in April 2015.

Since then Fisher has been under investigation on additional charges of passing information to criminal suspects regarding their cases in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars, and for transferring money to police officers in exchange for the termination of his defendants’ investigations.

Police charged the the major general, whose name is currently under gag order, with corruption, fraud, violating the public’s trust and other crimes.

The arrest was carried out following the testimony of state’s witness Eran Malka, and the case against the major general was further strengthened when an additional state’s witness, an unnamed affluent contractor, came forward.

Malka claimed that Fisher promised the major general a director position in B. Yair, a publicly traded contracting firm run by Yair Biton.

Biton was also one of Ronel Fisher’s clients and earlier this month was also indicted in the corruption scandal, Ynet news reported.

The contractor, whose name is also under gag order, admitted to police that he paid Fisher NIS 2 million ($523,000) for information regarding a police case against him. He has also revealed additional information on other corrupt high-ranking law enforcement officers, police said.

In exchange for his testimony, the contractor will completely avoid prosecution in the corruption case.

Malka served in the police’s Lahav 433 Investigation Unit and was brought in for questioning along with Fisher last month.

Malka spoke with the press soon after his arrest outside of the courthouse where an extension of his and Fisher’s remands were being discussed.

At the time, Malka said, “My becoming a state’s witness is not on the agenda. I took responsibility for my actions. I will pay the price, and with great bravery. There is no choice.”

But last week it was revealed by the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court that Malka would in fact turn state’s witness in exchange for financial considerations, which will allow him to keep his police pension and avoid fines in his sentence.

Under his agreement, Malka will still serve time in jail. The Police Investigation’s Unit is demanding a 7-10 year sentence, while his attorneys, Ofer Bartel and Dov Gilad Cohen, are demanding a 3-4 year incarceration.