A-G may indict Litzman for fraud

Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit is leaning toward indicting top United Torah Judaism MK Ya’acov Litzman for fraud, witness tampering and breach of public trust for allegedly interfering in the extradition of alleged pedophile Malka Leifer.

Officials would not confirm the leak, though there were clear indications that the decision was impending.

Police recommended indicting Litzman in August 2019 when he was deputy health minister.

In a second case, the police recommended indicting Litzman for bribery, while police had closed a third case against him due to a combination of insufficient evidence and charges that had expired due to the statute of limitations.

Despite police recommendations, Mandelblit makes the final decision on whether to accept the recommendations of the prosecution and the police.

Police said in 2019 that it found sufficient evidence to charge Litzman with trying to influence the opinion of psychiatrists appointed by the Health Ministry in order to aid Leifer and prevent her extradition to Australia. She was wanted there for dozens of cases of sexual abuse while serving as head of a school in Melbourne.

Police said that Litzman, a Gur hassid, attempted to pressure the Jerusalem district psychiatrist into falsely stating that Leifer was mentally unfit to be extradited to Australia to stand trial.

The same psychiatrist who originally filed an opinion stating that Leifer was competent to stand trial allegedly switched his opinion after pressure from Litzman.

If true, Litzman’s meeting with the key witness in the extradition case would constitute witness tampering.

He is also accused of threatening other medical professionals at the ministry if they did not write reports in a way that was favorable to Leifer.

Leifer fled to Israel in 2008 amid allegations that she had sexually abused students at the Adass Yisroel School in Melbourne.

Wanted on 74 charges of child sexual abuse, Leifer was arrested in Israel in 2014, but was released after being deemed mentally unfit for the legal proceedings. She was later rearrested after an undercover investigation found that she lived a normal life and was mentally fit to face extradition.

Leifer was extradited in January, almost 13 years after fleeing Australia.

A second case dealt with Litzman’s alleged involvement in trying to influence officials in the ministry to work on behalf of a food establishment whose owner is close to the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) politician.

Litzman allegedly frequented the establishment during the period in dispute, and allegedly tried to prevent the closure of the company, which had been found to pose a health hazard to the public after several people became sick.

After Health Ministry inspectors initially closed the establishment, Litzman ordered a new on-site tour including both him and the officials who had closed it.

As part of the tour, he told the officials that it should be reopened, and that he personally had been eating the food and was fine.

The police said that the investigation found sufficient evidence against Litzman to charge him with bribery, fraud, obstruction of justice and breach of trust.

The third case, which was closed by police, included

potential charges that Litzman tried to influence officials in the Health and other ministries to help various prisoners, especially those with sex-crime convictions, receive early releases.

While many convicts do get released early, ministers are prohibited from involvement in the process, which is based on a series of recommendations by professionals from different ministries.

Multiple officials on Litzman’s staff who were also suspects in some of the above cases will also reportedly get off the hook.

Deputy “Minister Litzman has worked throughout his years for the benefit of Israeli citizens, with complete transparency and by law,” Litzman’s office responded after the 2019 police recommendation. “The office of Litzman has a clear, open-door policy to assist the public. This is without discrimination against anyone, and without clarifying the status of those who call for assistance, except under the law and [with] integrity.”

Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.