Netanyahu grilled again in corruption investigation

ISRAEL: Benjamin Netanyahu’s lawyer has insisted that the prime minister committed ‘‘no shred of a criminal act’’ after the Israeli leader was questioned by police for a second time as part of a swirling criminal investigation into gifts he received from wealthy friends.

Netanyahu has spent eight hours in the last week answering questions from detectives about allegations that he illegally accepted suits, cigars, holidays and other gifts from Israeli and American businessmen.

The prime minister adamantly denies any wrongdoing and has not been arrested or charged with any crime. But the investigations have been an unwelcome and unsettling distraction for a man who has dominated Israeli politics for nearly a decade.

Netanyahu’s lawyer, Jacob Weinroth, addressed the allegations and said the prime minister had accepted some presents but insisted that there was nothing criminal about taking gifts from friends. ’’Any intelligent person knows that if a friend or someone close to you gives a friend cigars as a gift, there is not and cannot be anything prohibited about that - no shred of criminal act,’’ he said in a statement.

According to the Haaretz newspaper, Netanyahu took cigars and other presents from Arnon Milchan, an Israeli Hollywood producer who was behind the films 12 Years A Slave and Fight Club. Milchan is believed to have been questioned by investigators.

He is also alleged to have received gifts from Ron Lauder, an American billionaire and the president of the World Jewish Congress.

Israeli media reported that Netanyahu is facing two investigations - one into the presents from wealthy friends and a second, potentially more serious case, known in the press as ‘‘Case 2000’’. The details of the second investigation are not public but Weinroth said he was confident that the prime minister was on the right side of the law in both instances.

‘‘We aren’t talking about money, we aren’t talking about a loan, we aren’t talking about anything that constitutes a crime and I’m convinced that when the prime minister’s answers are heard by those who will hear them, it will become clear to every listener that there is no suspicion or hint of criminality.’’

The current case is the third time Netanyahu has found himself in the middle of a major criminal investigation. During his first stint as prime minister in 1997 prosecutors opted not to charge him in a scandal over political appointments but said it was ‘‘a very difficult decision’’ not to indict him.

Three years later, police recommended charging both Mr Netanyahu and his wife Sara with illegally taking silverware, carpets and other items from the prime minister’s residence when they moved out.

Prosecutors again decided not to bring charges, saying there was insufficient evidence.

- Telegraph Group