The Director General of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Yehuda Avidan, was questioned today (Sunday) by the police's Lahav Unit 433 on suspicion of involvement in crimes of fraud and breach of trust, threats, and abuse of office.
The police announced earlier today that the director general of a government ministry and two other senior officials in the ministry arrived at the offices of the National Fraud Investigation Unit at 433 Lahav for investigation.
According to the police, the suspicions attributed to the three suspects include committing offenses of fraud and breach of trust, abuse of office, and threats.
At the end of the investigation, he was released home under restrictive conditions.
The investigation was opened following a Channel 13 investigation that revealed that Avidan was suspected of attempting to interfere in the decisions of a party connected to the ministry for non-business considerations, as well as to prevent the justified dismissal of a person close to him.
About six months after the investigation was broadcast, the police opened an investigation following the suspicions that arose.
The main axis of the police investigation concerns, among other things, the circumstances surrounding the dismissal of a kashrut supervisor employed in a city in southern Israel. The background to the incident began when the chairman of the religious council operating in that southern city sought to terminate the employment of the kashrut supervisor. The chairman of the religious council raised various allegations against the kashrut supervisor, according to which the employee was responsible for acts defined as unethical.
On the other hand, at the time, officials in the Ministry of Religious Affairs expressed clear opposition to the dismissal of the kashrut supervisor.
Police investigators are now examining the involvement of Avidan and the other senior officials in the pressure campaign and the legality of the actions they took.
