Recorded confrontation in police sex probe exposes heated exchange between senior officers

Investigators from the Israel Competition Authority held a roughly two-hour confrontation on Tuesday between Police spokespersons chief, Brig. Gen. Lior Abudraham, and a senior female officer who filed a sex-related complaint against him. Channel 13 later published the main lines from the tense session, in which the woman told him, “You tried to get me drunk,” and he replied, “Absolutely not, I was nice and took care of you.” She answered, “How are you not ashamed, a senior officer like you acting this way toward a woman.”

According to the suspicion, after an event the two attended with other police officers, the woman accepted a ride with Abudraham, and during the drive he allegedly made explicit sexual remarks. Abudraham was questioned on the allegation and denied it. In the confrontation, he said she had initiated the shared trip. She replied that he was lying, that they were supposed to travel with another officer, and that “you wanted there to be sex between us and I did not agree.” He responded, “That is not true, I would never touch you.”

Investigators also have a contemporaneous statement from the woman’s friend, who testified at the Competition Authority offices as well. The investigation is nearing completion, and afterward the authority will decide whether to recommend an indictment in the case.

Last month, Abudraham, a key witness against Prison Service Commissioner Kobi Yaakobi, was questioned by the authority after Yaakobi alleged that Abudraham had an affair with a Police Internal Investigations Department investigator. Abudraham then took a polygraph test, which found no connection between him and the investigator in question. The probe is being handled by the Competition Authority because the complainant provided the recording that allegedly proved the affair. At the weekend, Channel 13 also reported that Maj. Gen. Alona Shoshan, head of the police Human Resources Division, was placed under house arrest after being questioned under caution on suspicion of witness harassment. She is suspected of recording Abudraham while he discussed ties to senior Internal Investigations Department officials. That recording led to the broader authority investigation, in which Yaakobi was also questioned. After her interrogation, Shoshan was also barred from the police for 15 days.