As Bezeq probe ensnares associates, Netanyahu insists ‘Elovitz isn’t my friend’

More quotes leak from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with fellow Likud lawmakers in which he discussed the latest corruption suspicions linked to his associates.

“I’ve been wronged by the media,” Netanyahu insists. “They’re trying to connect my name with two investigations that have nothing to do with me — [Shaul] Elovitz and the submarines.”

Elovitz, the controlling shareholder in the Bezeq telecom giant, is being investigated for alleged improprieties surrounding Bezeq’s purchase of shares in the YES satellite television company.

The investigation has extended to public officials in the Communications Ministry, including its Netanyahu-appointed director general Shaul Filber, for allegedly favoring Elovitz in decisions taken regarding the purchase. Filber was sent home for two weeks’ house arrest on Thursday.

“Elovitz isn’t my friend,” Netanyahu insists, but clarifies, “He’s my friend in a sense that doesn’t require reporting [under public service transparency rules].”

After news of the investigation broke, he tells the lawmakers, “I acquiesced to the attorney general’s suggestion and stopped dealing with [issues related to] Bezeq. The Justice Ministry published a legal opinion that says all decisions [made by Netanyahu as communications minister in connection with Bezeq over the past year] were substantive [and not affected by outside interests].”