Netanyahu confidant suspected of trying to bribe judge in new Israel corruption inquiry
ISRAELI police said yesterday that they suspect a confidant of Benjamin Netanyahu, the country’s prime minister, of offering a sitting judge a top posting in exchange for dropping a corruption case against Mr Netanyahu’s wife.
The development marks the latest scandal to engulf the beleaguered Israeli leader’s inner circle. Mr Netanyahu already stands accused of bribery in two other cases.
Nir Hefetz, a former spokesman of the Netanyahu family, is suspected of suggesting to Judge Hila Gerstel that she could be appointed attorney general if she ended a pending case against Sara Netanyahu’s excessive household spending.
Earlier, police named Mr Hefetz as one of two Netanyahu associates under arrest for their suspected role in a separate corruption probe.
Mr Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing and says the latest charges were a continuation of a wider media-orchestrated witchhunt against him and his family.
“Nir Hefetz never presented this ludicrous offer to the prime minister and his wife, he was never asked by them to make such an offer and we can’t imagine that Hefetz would even imagine such a thing,” Mr Netanyahu said.
Earlier yesterday, police identified Mr Hefetz and Shlomo Filber, the former director of the communications ministry under Mr Netanyahu, as the two suspects in promoting regulation worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Israel’s Bezeq telecom firm, in return for favourable coverage of Mr Netanyahu on a subsidiary news website.
Mr Netanyahu has not been named as a suspect in the case but is expected to be questioned.
Shaul Elovitch, Bezeq’s controlling shareholder, is in custody, along with his wife, son and top Bezeq executives.
The new probe comes days after police said there was sufficient evidence to indict Mr Netanyahu for bribery and fraud in two cases.
Mr Netanyahu is accused of receiving lavish gifts in return for which, police say, he took action on US visa matters, legislated a tax break and made an introduction to an Indian businessman.
In the second case, Mr Netanyahu is accused of offering a newspaper publisher legislation that would weaken his paper’s main rival in return for more favourable coverage.