FROM $2,700 ON ICE CREAM TO $1,600 HAIRCUTS, SPEND IT LIKE BIBI

A look at the ever-growing charge-sheet reveals how prosecutors are closing in on the Israeli prime minister

Benjamin Netanyahu is no stranger to scandal. Israel’s prime minister is fighting for his political life after being accused of taking bribes from billionaire supporters.

Over a three-decade political career, Mr Netanyahu has been accused of everything from accepting improper gifts and spending too much public money on ice cream to wasting tens of thousands of dollars on a custom-fitted bed for a fivehour flight to London.

Close confidants and family members have also come under suspicion.

With feline deftness, Mr Netanyahu has managed to escape prosecution. But the latest scandal may be the most serious threat yet to his lengthy rule.

Police announced this week that there was sufficient evidence to indict Mr Netanyahu for bribery, fraud and breach of trust in a pair of cases.

In the first, he is suspected of accepting nearly US$300,000 (Dh1.1 million) in gifts from Hollywood mogul Arnon Milchan and Australian billionaire James Packer. In exchange, Mr Netanyahu allegedly lobbied US officials for Mr Milchan in a visa matter and helped to promote his business affairs in Israel.

In the second case, he is suspected of offering preferential treatment to a newspaper publisher in exchange for favourable coverage.

Mr Netanyahu has angrily rejected the accusations and denounced what he calls an overzealous police investigation.

In a televised address on Tuesday night, he said he had faced 15 investigations over the years, all of which, he claimed, had amounted to nothing. He similarly predicted the latest uproar would pass.

For the time being, Mr Netanyahu’s job remains secure, with his coalition lining up behind him as opponents urge him to step aside.

His attorney general, Avihai Mandelblit, will now review the evidence and make the final decision on whether to press charges – a process that is expected to take months. That means Mr Netanyahu faces a difficult period ahead because his every move will be clouded by the looming investigation.

Here is a look at some of the scandals that have plagued Mr Netanyahu, his family and his confidants over the years.

Influence peddling

During his first term in office in the 1990s, Mr Netanyahu was suspected of engineering the short-lived appointment of a crony as attorney general in exchange for political support from the Shas party. Prosecutors called Mr Netanyahu’s conduct puzzling, but stopped short of filing charges.

Gifts affair

During the same stint, Mr Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, were suspected of taking gifts he received from world leaders – items considered state property. The Netanyahus were also suspected of accepting favours from a contractor. Both cases were closed without charges.

Travel expenses

Mr Netanyahu was suspected of double billing travel expenses and using state funds to cover travel for his family in the 2000s, while he was finance minister and opposition leader. After a lengthy investigation, the attorney general dismissed the case.

Hey, big spender

In 2016, an official expense report found that Mr Netanyahu spent more than $600,000 in public funds on a six-day trip to New York, including $1,600 on a personal hairdresser.

Three years earlier, he was chided for spending $127,000 in public funds for a special sleeping cabin on a flight to London.

The prime minister said he was unaware of the cost and halted the practice. He also halted purchases at his favourite Jerusalem ice cream parlour that year after a newspaper reported his office had run up a $2,700 bill, mostly for vanilla and pistachio.

Household help

Sara Netanyahu has faced repeated allegations of mistreating household help. During their first term in office, the family’s nanny said she was fired by Mr Netanyahu’s wife for burning a pot of vegetable soup.

The young woman said she was thrown out of the family’s home without her clothes or passport, and was later ordered to pick up her belongings dumped outside the front gate. Mr Netanyahu’s office said the woman was fired because she was prone to violent outbursts.

More recently, a Jerusalem labour court awarded $30,000 in damages to a former employee of the first lady who claimed he faced yelling and unreasonable demands. Last month, a recording emerged of Mrs Netanyahu screaming at an aide as she complained that a gossip column about her did not mention her educational credentials.

Questionable spending

Israel’s attorney general announced last autumn that he was considering charging Mrs Netanyahu with graft, fraud and breach of trust for alleged overspending of more than $100,000 in public funds on private meals at the prime minister’s official residence.

At the same time, the attorney general dismissed allegations that the Netanyahus used government money to buy furniture for their private beach house and used state funds to pay for medical care for Mrs Netanyahu’s late father.

Netanyahu’s son

Last month, a recording surfaced of Mr Netanyahu’s eldest son, Yair, driving with wealthy friends to Tel Aviv strip clubs in a taxpayer-funded government vehicle. Yair, 26, has for years been criticised for living a life of privilege at taxpayers’ expense, hobnobbing with ultra-rich donors and making crude social media posts, all the while never holding down a job.

Cabinet minister

The Defence Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, a confidant of Mr Netanyahu, was suspected in a long-running corruption case of illicitly receiving money and laundering it through shell companies in eastern Europe. In 2012, Israel’s attorney general dismissed the most serious charges, saying the case would be impossible to prove.

A report at the time said he noted that key witnesses lived outside the country, that Mr Lieberman’s lawyer had invoked the right to remain silent – and that two key witnesses had died while a third had disappeared. Mr Lieberman was indicted on lesser graft charges. That case forced him to step down as foreign minister but he was cleared and returned to the post a year later.

Netanyahu’s whip

David Bitan, one of Mr Netanyahu’s closest allies, resigned as coalition whip in December over suspicions that he accepted bribes as a municipal politician. Mr Bitan has invoked his right to remain silent during repeated police interrogations.