Labor’s Ben-Eliezer to stand trial on graft charges

Former Labor minister and Knesset member Binyamin Ben-Eliezer will stand trial on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, Channel 2 reported Saturday evening, after Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein adopted police recommendations on the matter.

The police in January recommended that Ben-Eliezer and 10 others stand trial for a series of financial improprieties, with investigators saying they had gathered a strong body of evidence against the veteran parliamentarian and the others.

Channel 2 reported that Ben-Eliezer’s attorneys had attempted to reach a settlement in the case without going to trial, citing the former minister’s poor health, but Weinstein reportedly rejected the request.

Police in 2014 conducted a six-month investigation into allegations that Ben-Eliezer accepted funds from businessmen for unspecified financial favors in 2006, when he served as national infrastructure minister. He is also accused of laundering money using the bank accounts of several relatives.

Hebrew media reports named businessmen Abraham Nanikashvili and Jacky Ben-Zaken, and Ben-Eliezer’s former bureau chief Ayelet Azoulay, as three of the ten suspects.

Ben-Eliezer’s attorney denied the allegations on behalf of his client, and said the former defense minister was confident that he would be exonerated.

“For 60 years, Ben-Eliezer served the state of Israel loyally and with a sense of mission, and he is determined to fight for his good name, in spite of his complicated medical condition,” the attorney said.

In December 2014, the 78-year-old politician announced he would leave politics to focus on his health and clearing his name.

The probe caused the veteran MK to drop his bid for Israel’s presidency in June of last year, three days before the election.