Police in Israel have arrested a top lawyer as part of an investigation into claims that judicial appointments were traded for sexual favours.<\/p>\n
The lawyer has not been named and a gag order covers most details of the case.<\/p>\n
But police said it concerned the appointment of a female magistrates’ court judge and an attempt to promote a male judge to a district court.<\/p>\n
Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has reportedly recused himself because he is a friend of the main suspect.<\/p>\n
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and Supreme Court Chief Justice Esther Hayut, who are members of the Judicial Appointments Committee, are meanwhile expected to be summoned to give testimony.<\/p>\n
Israeli police said in a statement that the force’s Lahav 433 anti-corruption unit had launched an investigation two weeks ago<\/a>\u00a0after receiving information about judicial appointments.<\/p>\n On Wednesday morning, one male lawyer was arrested as part of the inquiry.<\/p>\n Two other suspects – a female magistrates’ court judge and a female lawyer – had already been questioned, the police added.<\/p>\n Officers have also conducted searches and seized documents.<\/p>\n The Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reports that\u00a0the Jerusalem office of the Israel Bar Association was raided on Wednesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ms Shaked and Justice Hayut later issued a joint statement saying\u00a0they felt “confident that the law enforcement system will complete the investigation and reach the truth”<\/a>. They also rejected any allegations of widespread corruption in the judicial appointment system.<\/p>\n Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"