Adelaide rabbi, wife face 39 charges
TWO years after allegations of improper behaviour, Adelaide's Rabbi Yossi Engel and his wife Chana are facing multiple charges.
By Peter Kohn
TWO years after allegations of improper behaviour, Adelaide’s Rabbi Yossi Engel and his wife Chana are facing multiple charges.
This week, the couple was jointly charged with 39 counts of dishonestly dealing with documents in relation to a school they established in the South Australian capital.
The couple is due to appear before the Adelaide Magistrates Court on July 30, where a trial date is expected to be set.
A spokesperson for South Australia Police’s Criminal Investigation Branch told The AJN the charges relate to allegations of faked report cards and other documents from the school, which was set up by the former Adelaide Hebrew Congregation (AHC) rabbi and his wife.
Some of the documents, sighted by The AJN in 2007, drew surprised reactions from parents who said it was news to them that their children had been enrolled in the school. Despite that, Rabbi Engel allegedly obtained funding for those students.
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. Their lawyers had not responded to AJN calls at the time of going to press.
Police said the Engels were charged under Section 140 of South Australia’s Criminal Law Consolidation Act, which indicates a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment if the charges are proven.
The charges relate to applications for funding that the Engels allegedly made to South Australia’s Ethnic Schools Board.
The police in Adelaide delivered summonses to the Engels’ solicitors in Adelaide on Monday. It was the result of an investigation spanning almost two years by SA police into the couple’s business affairs relating to the Spirit of David Adelaide Hebrew School, which has been disbanded.
During the investigation, the police interviewed more than 50 people.
American-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.
By early 2007, Rabbi Engel’s termination had triggered an acrimonious dispute, which resulted in heated arguments when the rabbi encountered AHC board members packing up belongings in his office, and the rabbi was accused of not returning shul property.
Rabbi Engel appealed against a District Court ruling that his contract had expired, but the Supreme Court of South Australia later rejected his appeal.
The wrangle between AHC and Rabbi Engel also drew in the Sydney Beth Din (SBD), which has jurisdiction in Adelaide, and was involved in an unsuccessful arbitration between the rabbi and the shul board.
The SBD cited halachic law in declaring the rabbi’s contract ongoing. At one point, the rabbinic court threatened a siruv (contempt order) against AHC if it employed a successor to Rabbi Engel.
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 commence his job as the AHC’s rabbi in 1998.
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