Charges dropped against Engels

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ALL charges against an Adelaide rabbi and his wife relating to alleged fraud over a Jewish school for which $50,000 in South Australian Government grants were sought, have been dropped.

Rabbi Yossi Engel and his wife Chana had each been charged on 39 counts of dishonestly dealing with documents, but the charges were dismissed in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Tuesday this week, after police tended no evidence, citing no reasonable prospect of conviction.

After the ruling, Rabbi Engel told media outside the court: “My name is now clear. I’m extremely grateful to God”, and announced plans he would remain in Adelaide “to serve the people of South Australia and the Jewish community here”.

Rabbi Engel is the director of Chabad in South Australia and the spiritual leader of the Jewish Learning Centre of Adelaide.

The Engels’ lawyer Ron Bellman issued a statement saying: “When called upon by the court, the South Australian police, who prosecuted the cases, did not lead any evidence against either the rabbi or his wife.¬† At all times, Rabbi and Mrs Engel had vigorously maintained their innocence and remained committed to defending the charges.”

The Engels were charged in June last year after a three-year investigation headed by Detective Senior Constable Stan Tsoulos of the Adelaide Criminal Investigation Branch, which has interviewed more than 50 people.

Police told The AJN at that time that the allegations “relate to the filling out of forms and applications submitted to the Ethnic Schools Board in order to receive funding” for the Spirit of David School.
Rabbi Engel first came to Australia from the United States as a Chabad shaliach in the 1980s and worked in Sydney’s Chabad community before returning home.

He returned to Australia to take up a position at The Adelaide Hebrew Congregations as rabbi in 1998.

AJN STAFF