Former top police officer questioned in major corruption probe
Unnamed officer brought in by Police Investigations Department, as part of probe into alleged bribery and fraud by former superindendant and criminal lawyer.
The former officer cannot be identified due to a gag order; his name has cropped up in the past in other affairs, but he has never been indicted.
The PID sought the gag order on the investigation last week, in the wake of dramatic developments and a subsequent wave of rumors about the involvement of senior officials.
Malka has accused the police officer of taking a bribe from Fisher in return for information on police investigations pertaining to its clients. Malka himself is suspected of providing Fisher with information on investigations involving his clients in return for money.
Fisher and Malka are accused of accepting bribes, giving bribes, and receiving goods obtained through criminal and fraudulent means. Former Tel Aviv chief prosecutor Ruth David is also accused of receiving property through by criminal means, and obstruction of justice.
During the pertinent timeframe, Malka was an investigating officer with the Lahav 443 fraud squad, and in this capacity had access to extremely sensitive police information. According to the allegations, Malka would update Fisher on sensitive cases, and together they would allegedly coordinate the best way to contact those involved, so that Fisher could take them on as clients.
Fisher would allegedly give his new clients access to information related to the investigation, and make clear to them that he had connections within the police and could help them. In return, prosecutor Keren Altman argued recently, the two received sums estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, "which they divided evenly."
The indictment brought against Fisher, Malka and David last month claims that Malka created an email address in order to transfer the sensitive files and would send Fisher's secretary – who has since turned state's witness – that he had sent them. The secretary would then print out the files and give them to Fisher personally, or place them in a specially designated drawer in the office.
Fisher was arrested last year, moments after taking possession of a suitcase filled with $150,000 that he said would be used to bribe police officers. The chairman of the Ashdod port workers union, Alon Hassan, was responsible for the lawyer's arrest in a sting operation led by the Police Investigation Department.
"Give me $150,000 and I will solve all your problems," Fisher allegedly told Hassan. When Hassan left the coffee house where he had met Fisher, police swooped in to arrest Fisher.
