‘I threw it in the water,’ Liberman says of tip-off note

Days before his trial on breach of trust charges is to begin, details emerged from police interviews with former foreign minister Avigdor Liberman in which he played down the importance of a tip-off he received from a Foreign Ministry official about a police investigation into his affairs.

In transcripts of investigations from 2010, submitted to the court and exposed by Channel 10 news on Tuesday, Liberman relates that he received a note from Ze’ev Ben Aryeh, at the time ambassador to Belarus, informing his boss of a corruption investigation being carried out against Liberman. Liberman admitted that he received the note at a meeting in a hotel in Belarus, but said that he disregarded it and immediately disposed of it.

“I opened it [the note], saw it, said ‘thanks’ and immediately went to the restrooms and threw it in the water,” said Liberman. “It was insignificant, not serious.”

Liberman also described how he later told fellow Yisrael Beytenu party member Faina Kirshenbaum that Ben Aryeh was “an idiot” and predicted that “he will cause trouble for both of us.”

Police, however, believe Liberman was thankful enough for the note to later support Ben Aryeh’s candidacy for a different ambassadorship, and that the quid pro quo constituted a breach of trust.

Allegations of money-laundering and other crimes by Liberman were dropped in December 2012 due to lack of evidence, but he was indicted for breach of trust and fraud after it emerged that he had used his influence to pressure a Foreign Ministry committee to appoint Ben-Aryeh ambassador to Latvia. Police and the state prosecution believed his pressure on the committee was an act of gratitude for the warning note — thus constituting a crime. Liberman denied he had taken any actions on Ben Aryeh’s behalf.

Liberman resigned his position as foreign minister –though he maintains his Knesset membership — following the indictment in order to focus on his defense for the trial, and in February he briefly appeared in court to deny all charges against him.

Meanwhile, Liberman’s former deputy Danny Ayalon, who is a key witness in the case against his old boss, sparked off a National Fraud Unit investigation into alleged irregular travel abroad by Liberman’s associates.

Based on information Ayalon gave in the breach of trust case, the fraud unit looked into trips that were made contrary to civil service regulations, Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Wednesday.

The information was passed on to the State Attorney’s Office, but police sources said that there did not appear to be enough evidence to press charges. Foreign Ministry sources predicted that the incident will end with a disciplinary investigation by the State Comptroller.

Liberman left Ayalon off his Yisrael Beytenu’s pre-election party list last December, forcing his deputy out of the Knesset.

Liberman’s trial is due to begin Thursday.