Senior Israeli police officer questioned over alleged witness harassment in Yaakobi case

A senior Israeli police officer was questioned on Wednesday at the Israel Competition Authority on suspicion of harassing a state witness in the case involving Israel Prison Service commissioner Kobi Yaakobi. The probe is a spin-off from the wider investigation into Yaakobi, who is suspected of warning Shai Avishai Mualem, the commander of the Judea and Samaria District’s investigative unit, that a covert investigation was being conducted against him by the Police Internal Investigations Department, or Mavtan.

In that case, the attorney general decided to indict Yaakobi for obstruction, fraud and breach of trust. During the attorney general’s hearing, Yaakobi’s lawyer accused a Mavtan investigator of having an affair with the state witness against Yaakobi, alleged Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Lior Ben-Abarham, and claimed the investigation had been biased and the case was fabricated. Both denied the allegations and the affair, and both later passed polygraph tests.

The attorney general’s hearing also included a separate allegation from a senior police officer with the rank of superintendent, who said Ben-Abarham sexually harassed her while they were driving together back from a police event. Because of the claims about a possible link between Ben-Abarham and the Mavtan investigator, the matter was transferred to an outside body, the Israel Competition Authority.

Ben-Abarham was questioned over the complaint, denied it, and said the officer had harassed him and tried to extract information that could help Yaakobi at the hearing. Now, in light of that claim, the officer herself was questioned on suspicion of harassing a witness. The article also recalls that about a year and a half ago Yaakobi was arrested in broad daylight and questioned for more than 12 hours in Jerusalem on suspicion of obstruction and breach of trust, while two officers from the Judea and Samaria District were also detained.