Former chief rabbi faces fraud charge

The Attorney General’s office notified former chief rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron on Thursday that it intends to indict him, subject to a hearing, over the issuing of large numbers of unwarranted rabbinic certifications during his period in office.

Bakshi-Doron, the former Sephardi chief rabbi, stands accused of presiding over the fraudulent granting of approximately 1,500 rabbinic certifications to police and army officials.

During Bakshi-Doron’s term, from 1998-2003, the IDF and Israel Police granted officers a 2,000-4,000 shekel per month bonus for completion of a rabbinic certification course in addition to their academic studies. Certification for these classes was issued by the Chief Rabbinate, whose officials presided over the courses’ teaching and administration.

Bakshi-Doron is suspected of knowingly granting rabbinic certifications to hundreds of students who did not meet the program’s criteria. Yedioth Ahronoth reported that he is also suspected of telling the director of qualification exams, Rabbi Yitzhak Ohana, to turn a blind eye to unqualified officers and certify them nonetheless.

It is speculated that he did not wish to enter into confrontation with other rabbinical authorities over the matter. The systemic exploitation is estimated to have cost the state hundreds of millions of shekels.

In 2007, following an investigation by the Military Police, Israel Police’s Fraud Investigation Unit, and the Police Investigations Department, 10 rabbinate employees were charged with fraud in the same affair. Bakshi-Doron was not charged at the time, but a subsequent interview led to Thursday’s decision in principle to indict him.