Supreme Court posthumously clears former chief rabbi of wrongdoing in graft case

Former Sephardic chief rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron has posthumously been cleared of wrongdoing, as the Supreme Court accepts an appeal filed on his behalf in the so-called “rabbis case,” according to Hebrew media reports.

Bakshi-Doron, who died in April 2020 of COVID-19, was convicted of fraud and breach of trust and sentenced to probation and a fine in 2017, in a case that tarnished his reputation.

He was indicted in 2012 over his involvement in a scam, known as “the rabbis’ case,” which included the alleged issuing of false rabbinic credentials to over 1,000 police and security services employees. The extra honorific allegedly entitled them to salary hikes of NIS 2,000-4,000 ($530-$1060) a month. As a result the government paid out hundreds of millions of additional shekels to the civil servants.

The Supreme Court cancels the conviction and fine on Tuesday.

Former Chief Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron at the wedding of his granddaughter in Jerusalem on March 13, 2016.(Yaacov Cohen/Flash90)