Police Spokesperson Unit Chief Questioned After Prison Service Commissioner’s Complaint

Police Spokesperson Division chief, Deputy Commissioner Lior Abudraham, was questioned this evening (Wednesday) at the Israel Competition Authority following a complaint by Prisons Service Commissioner Maj. Gen. Kobi Yaakobi, who claimed that Abudraham had a personal relationship with a Police Internal Investigations Department investigator.

It should be noted that earlier in the afternoon, a message was distributed to police spokespeople stating that Deputy Commissioner Abudraham would be absent from work for several days due to a "medical procedure on his leg." Last month, Channel 13 News reported for the first time that Deputy Commissioner Lior Abudraham, who is the main witness against Prisons Service Commissioner Maj. Gen. Kobi Yaakobi, was found to be telling the truth in a polygraph test conducted following claims raised by Yaakobi that the investigation against him was tainted because of an alleged relationship Abudraham had with the Police Internal Investigations Department investigator who questioned the commissioner. The test results determined that Abudraham has no connection to the investigator in question.

Yaakobi’s defense attorney is set to meet on Sunday with the attorney general to present evidence of the alleged connection. The investigator herself also rejected the claims of an improper relationship between her and witness Abudraham. "I have no connection to these rumors. I had no relationship with the witness. It is a lie," she said in private conversations.

A few days earlier, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara sent Yaakobi a letter demanding that he present within 24 hours the evidence in his possession regarding the claims of a "close personal relationship" between the Police Internal Investigations Department investigator and the main witness in the case against him. The letter stated that "if no evidence is presented to substantiate the claim by tomorrow at 4:00 p.m., a final decision will be made regarding the commissioner based on the existing evidentiary foundation in the case."

It should be noted that against this backdrop, the attorney general decided to file an indictment against Yaakobi for obstruction of justice and breach of trust in the case involving associates of Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. He is suspected of having transferred classified and sensitive information to former Deputy Commissioner Muallem, former commander of the Judea and Samaria district police’s serious crime unit, while serving as Prisons Service commissioner, in violation of the law. Last night, the central edition reported that the attorney general is expected to soon announce an indictment as well against Deputy Commissioner Muallem.