Deputy Commissioner Manny Binyamin, the head of Lahav 433, Israel’s crime-fighting umbrella organization, is the officer who was interrogated by the Police Internal Investigations Unit on suspicion of breach of trust and abuse of office.
Binyamin is one of the most senior figures in the Israeli police, leading the elite Lahav 433 Unit, which investigates cases of corruption, severe crime, and organized crime.
According to the announcement by the Internal Investigations Unit, the main suspicion is that Deputy Commissioner Binyamin “intervened in a matter in which he had a conflict of interest, without reporting it, and even took various actions to influence how the matter was handled within his unit.”
Other details from the investigation remain confidential under a gag order. However, it was clarified that the cases are not connected to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trial, the investigation into the ex-Military Advocate General, or the Histadrut case.
At the end of the interrogation, Binyamin was released under restrictive conditions, including a nine-day ban from police facilities and a prohibition on contacting those involved.
Following the investigation, Police Commissioner Danni Levy convened the senior command staff and announced that Commander Eli Mekamel, head of the National Fraud Investigation Unit, will temporarily serve as the head of Lahav 433.
