AG asks High Court to reject petition seeking transcripts of PM's talks with newspaper owner

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit asks the High Court of Justice to reject a petition seeking the publication of the transcripts of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s conversations with Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper publisher Arnon Mozes, which are at the center of a corruption case involving the premier.

“The petition should be rejected in the absence of any cause for judicial intervention and because there has been no change in circumstances since the High Court of Justice rejected a petition a year ago in which the petitioners sought an identical step,” Hebrew media quotes Mandelblit writing to the court.

Case 2000, in which Netanyahu is suspected of fraud and breach of trust, involves an alleged illicit quid pro quo between the prime minister and Mozes that would have seen the passage of legislation curbing Yedioth’s rival daily Israel Hayom in exchange for positive coverage. The alleged agreement was never hatched.

The recordings were found by police in a raid during an unrelated investigation into Ari Harow, Netanyahu’s former chief of staff who has turned state’s witness.

Netanyahu is also suspected of fraud and breach of trust in two other cases, as well as bribery in one of them.