Ex-top graft investigator convicted of failing to report bribery attempts

A former top police corruption investigator is convicted of failing to report an attempted bribe offered to him by a well-known rabbi.

Former police deputy commissioner Menashe Arviv, who once headed the national police force’s top corruption and fraud investigative body Lahav 433, is convicted by the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court of the relatively minor crime of “failure to carry out an official duty.”

The conviction comes as part of a plea bargain that saw fraud and breach of trust charges excised from the indictment.

Arviv failed to report close ties he maintained with Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto and at least two bribery attempts by Pinto while serving in a variety of senior positions in the police, including as deputy head of the Tel Aviv police, as Israel Police liaison to the United States and as head of Lahav 433.