Admitted to theft: Former Chief Rabbi of the Israeli Prison Service sentenced to 15 months in prison

December 8, 2024   

Rabbi Ofer Moshe Elmaleh, former Chief Rabbi of the Prison Service, was sentenced today (Sunday) in the Central District Court to 15 months in prison, after he admitted and was convicted of stealing hundreds of thousands of shekels from the Prison Service. As part of a plea agreement, the state withdrew the bribery charge it had attributed to him in the original indictment. According to the indictment, between 2018 and 2019, when he served as Chief Rabbi of the Prison Service, Rabbi Elmaleh worked together with the CEO of the Shorashim Nahariya association to defraud the Prison Service through false hour reports by midrash teachers. As part of the fraud, the IPS rabbi increased the scope of reported hours and added payment for sabbatical days to which they were not entitled. As a result, an amount of approximately 693,000 shekels was fraudulently received. Of the funds fraudulently transferred, Elmaleh's family members received an amount of approximately 125,000 shekels: Elmaleh's son-in-law received 47,000 shekels from the association, and his son received 80,000 shekels from it. Rabbi Elmaleh pleaded guilty and was convicted of multiple offenses of theft by a public servant, receiving something by fraud under aggravated circumstances, and fraud and breach of trust. According to a report by Avi Cohen in Israel Hayom, the prosecutor demanded that Rabbi Elmaleh be sentenced to 18 months in prison and a fine of 100,000 shekels. On the other hand, his defense attorney claimed that the motive for the actions was altruistic - the desire to improve the teachers' employment conditions, and he asked to settle for six months of community service. Judge Michal Burnett ruled in favor of the Dina: "The defendant was supposed to outline a rehabilitation process for prisoners to correct their character, served as the chief rabbi of the Prison Service, and was supposed to serve as an example to his employees, let alone the prisoners, but he acted out of greed beyond his desire to improve the conditions of the association's employees. Mainly because of the defendant's position, the moral failure is many times more serious." In addition to the actual prison sentence, the judge sentenced him to 8 months of probation, a fine of 50,000 shekels, and a forfeiture of 125,000 shekels.