Netanyahu may face breach of trust charge, but not bribery — report
No conclusive evidence found yet that expensive gifts from businessmen to prime minister were intended to sway him
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Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit is reportedly leaning toward a charge of breach of trust, but not bribery, in a corruption investigation into expensive gifts that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu allegedly received from billionaire businessmen, among them Israeli movie mogul Arnon Milchan.
After several weeks during which Netanyahu, his wife Sara and son Yair had been questioned by police on multiple occasions, there has so far not been any conclusive evidence to show that the gifts were intended as bribes, Israel Radio reported Wednesday.
The prime minister is being investigated in two separate cases. The first, known as “Case 1000,” is looking into claims that he and his family received hundreds of thousands of shekels’ worth of luxury gifts from businessmen.
A second probe, known as “Case 2000,” pertains to recordings of conversations between Netanyahu and Israeli newspaper publisher Arnon Mozes, in which the pair allegedly negotiated an illicit quid pro quo deal that would have seen the prime minister pass legislation to hamper a rival daily in return for more favorable coverage from Mozes’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.
Netanyahu, who has been questioned by police, has denied any wrongdoing in either case, and repeatedly said that nothing will come of either criminal investigation.
Channel 2 and Channel 10 both reported Tuesday that police are considering an indictment on charges of breach of trust over the expensive gifts allegedly accepted by Netanyahu.
Leaked reports of the police investigation have indicated that Milchan spent some NIS 400,000-600,000 ($100,000-150,000) on champagne and cigars for the Netanyahus over the best part of a decade. The prime minister and his wife have reportedly told police that the sums involved were far lower, and that the gifts were unremarkable as the Milchans are their best friends. As for gifts from a second businessman named in the case, Australian James Packer, those were of even more negligible value, the Netanyahus reportedly told police.
During questioning, Milchan reportedly told police the Netanyahus demanded the champagne and cigars that he allegedly supplied to them, and that they were not, as they have claimed, merely gifts given out of generosity and friendship.
Leaked details of the case also revealed that Netanyahu asked then-US secretary of state John Kerry three times in 2014 to arrange a long-term visa to allow Milchan, an Israeli national, to live in the United States. The visa was granted.
Reports of the investigation led to Milchan threatening Monday to sue Likud MK David Amsalem after he suggested during a radio interview that the movie mogul was deliberately trying to bring down Netanyahu and may even have lied to police to further that goal.
Amsalem responded on Wednesday saying he has parliamentary immunity and that in his comments he was only offering an interpretation of media reports as they were presented. However, he also apologized if he had “caused any harm” to Milchan.
The Times of Israel Community.