Tel-Chai Nation

I should've written about this case before, and I certainly will now. This is about a so-called rabbi of Haredi background who was involved in corruption, and has now made things even worse:

Three of the attorneys defending Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto have filed for withdrawal from the corruption case in the Tel Aviv District Court on Tuesday, after the rabbi violated terms of his plea agreement.

The attorneys, all of whom hail from the law offices of Zeligman-Goldfarb, have been named as Moshe Mazor, Ro'i Bichler and Eli Zahar, reports Walla! News.

The three have represented the rabbi for a long time and have negotiated, persistently, with the prosecutor's office to sign the plea agreement.

Pinto admitted guilt in a corruption scandal with police investigative unit Lahav 433 Commander Menashe Arbiv, in exchange for leniency and reduction of charges.

However, one key element in the agreement was to refuse interviews - a deal broken after Pinto's wife spoke to Channel 2 news last week, claiming she and her husband were innocent of all charges.

Analysts following the case claim that this singular violation is probably not enough to deter the attorneys from continuing to represent Pinto, especially after campaigning diligently for the plea deal.

As such, speculation remains over what else Pinto may have violated in the agreement - enough to prevent the attorneys from facing the State Attorney's Office over the blunder.

Calling innocence to the press alone is not enough to exonerate from guilt, so the Pintos only made things worse by going ahead with this, breaching the call for keeping quiet. Now they've dug themselves a deeper hole, resulting in 3 lawyers quitting.

Labels: haredi corruption, Israel, political corruption