Lawmaker begins police testimony over dueling claims around muffed comptroller vote

New Hope MK Sharren Haskel has arrived at the police’s Lahav 433 major crimes unit to give testimony regarding her claims about a controversial Knesset vote in June in which Michael Rabello was elected state comptroller, Hebrew media reports.

The election was marred by at least six coalition MKs recording their vote, which opposition parties and government watchdog groups allege was done on the instructions of senior Likud officials.

The High Court of Justice ruled that these MKs had violated the legal requirement that the vote be held by secret ballot, regardless of whether they had been instructed to record their vote.

During the course of the High Court case, several Likud MKs filed affidavits to the court declaring that they had not been instructed to vote for Rabello, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s long-time lawyer and adviser.

But two weeks ago, Haskel testified in her own affidavit in the framework of a different legal process in the High Court that members of New Hope had been instructed to video themselves voting for Rabello, and that the MKs were also instructed to show the video of their vote to Netanyahu.

Following the submission of Haskel’s affidavit, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara instructed police to probe the conflicting affidavits and explore the possibility of launching a criminal investigation for perjury into whomever is found to be lying.