Mandelblit denies investigators pressured witnesses in Netanyahu probes

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit denies investigators pressured state’s witnesses to give false testimony in a series of corruption cases involving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Mandelblit also rejects accusations that untoward pressure was applied on suspects in the probes to turn state’s witnesses.

“There is no basis to claims about pressure being applied on state’s witnesses to give versions [of testimony] that are not the truth,” Mandelblit writes in a letter to Avi Himi, the head of the Israel Bar Association.

The attorney general says based on his review of the investigatory materials, “police investigators thoroughly clarified to state’s witnesses, and on a number of occasions, that they are required to tell only the truth.” He also says their testimony was recorded and that the witnesses cooperated with police of their own free will.

Mandelblit also addresses a television report from the weekend that police used the son of Shaul Elovitch, the controlling shareholder of the Bezeq telecom giant, to convince him to fire his lawyer as part of a bid to turn him state’s witness.

“As for the claim that Or Elovitch was sent on behalf of police to influence his father to fire his lawyer, this claim is based on a quote from a recording that was made for Or Elovitich and his father during the investigation. However, this quote is a fragment that does not correctly reflect the events,” he says.

“A reading of all the relevant investigatory materials leads to a completely different picture,” Mandelblit adds.