Adelaide rabbi and wife charged over school funding
 
PETER KOHN
ADELAIDE’S Rabbi Yossi Engel and his wife Rebbetzin Chana Engel have been jointly charged with 39 counts of dishonestly dealing with documents in relation to a school they founded in the South Australian capital.
The couple is due to appear before the Adelaide Magistrates Court on July 30.¬†A spokesperson for Adelaide’s Criminal Investigation Branch told The AJN the charges relate to allegations of faked report cards and other documents of the school, which was set up by the former Adelaide Hebrew Congregation (AHC) rabbi and his wife.
Rabbi Engel and his wife are believed to be in Adelaide and sources said the couple is likely to plead not guilty to the charges.¬†During the July 30 appearance, the court is expected to set a trial date.¬†Police prosecutors said the Engels were charged under section 140 of South Australia’s Criminal Law Consolidation Act.
The charges relate to applications for funding that the Engels allegedly made to South Australia’s Ethnic Schools Board in 2001 and 2003.¬†When police in Adelaide personally delivered summonses to the Engels’ solicitors on Monday, it was the culmination of a long-running investigation by South Australian police into the Engels’ business affairs relating to the Spirit of David Adelaide Hebrew School, which has been disbanded.
During the probe, Adelaide CIB interviewed more than 50 people, including parents of children allegedly enrolled in the Engels’ school.¬†US-born Rabbi Engel was the rabbi of AHC from 1998 until 2006 when he was informed his contract would not be renewed at the end of the year triggering an acrimonious dispute between the rabbi and AHC, which landed in the South Australian courts.¬†In 2007, the Supreme Court of South Australia ruled that Rabbi Engel’s contract with AHC had ended.¬†Rabbi Engel first came to Australia from the US as a Chabad shaliach in the 1980s and worked in Sydney’s Chabad community before returning home. He arrived back in Australia to begin his job as the AHC’s rabbi in 1998.
 
Photo: Rabbi Yossi Engel    Photo by: AJN file
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