Attorney general said to tell Sara Netanyahu of impending indictment

Attorney General Avichai Mandleblit has told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, that she will be indicted for diverting some NIS 400,000 ($112,000) in public funds for her private expenses, according to a report late Thursday.

Sara Netanyahu is suspected of misusing state funds at the Prime Minister’s Residence, including receiving goods under false pretenses, falsifying documents and breach of trust.

Channel 2 news reported that Mandelblit informed Sara Netanyahu Thursday of his plans to file the charges the next day. Any indictment would be pending a hearing for the suspect.

The Attorney General’s office did not respond to an immediate request for comment.

Mandelblit is expected to level four separate charges against Sara Netanyahu.

The most serious of those involves the hiring of electrician Avi Fahima, a Likud Central Committee member. A committee charged with overseeing residence expenditures — and which included the Prime Minister’s Office legal adviser — ruled against the hiring of Fahima, but he was employed regardless.

Further suspicions relate to the use of state funds for purchasing furniture. The furniture was apparently bought for the official residence in Jerusalem and then moved to the Netanyahus’ private residence in Caesarea, while older furniture was taken back from Caesarea to the residence in Jerusalem.

The prime minister’s wife is also suspected of improper use of state funds for her late father’s medical care and overdrawing from state coffers for private meals ordered to the Prime Minister’s Residence.

Sara Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing. Her lawyer has called the allegations against her “ridiculous” and part of the overall “persecution of the Netanyahu family.”

Over the weekend, Channel 2 news reported that Sara Netanyahu had taken a private lie detector test in a bid to shore up her version of events. She took the test at the Tal Polygraph center at her “own initiative” in order to “prove her version of events,” the center said, according to the report.

The center said Sara Netanyahu was found to have been telling the truth; however, lie detector tests are inadmissible in Israeli courts and can only be used as an indication of intent.

The decision to launch the investigation into her came in light of the state prosecutor’s recommendation, after allegations were raised in a 2015 report by State Comptroller Yosef Shapira that detailed lavish spending at the official residence in Jerusalem, as well as at the Netanyahus’ Caesarea home.

Channel 2 also reported Thursday that the prime minister expects that police will recommend indictment against him in a pair of separate corruption cases against him, but is convinced that Mandelblit will decide not to bring charges and will “bury” the indictment.

The Prime Minister’s Office rejected the report.

Netanyahu “never said such a thing about the attorney general and has only said, time and time again, that nothing will come of this as there is nothing there,” the PMO told Channel 2 in response to the Thursday report.

Hebrew media reported last week that police will recommend filing indictments against Netanyahu in two cases — the so-called Case 1000 and Case 2000 — as the investigations appear to be strengthened by “significant material” provided by Netanyahu’s former chief of staff and aide, Ari Harow, who recently turned state’s witness.

In Case 1000, Netanyahu and his wife are suspected of receiving illicit gifts from billionaire benefactors, most notably hundreds of thousands of shekels’ worth of cigars and champagne from the Israeli-born Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan.

Case 2000 involves a suspected illicit quid pro quo deal between Netanyahu and Yedioth Ahronoth publisher Arnon Mozes that would have seen the prime minister hobble a rival daily, the Sheldon Adelson-backed Israel Hayom, through Knesset legislation in return for more favorable coverage from Yedioth.

A police recommendation does not carry legal weight. It is for state prosecutors, who are under the attorney general, to decide whether to press charges.

Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing in either of the cases.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.