PM said backing ex-cop who represented him in spending probe for police chief

Prime Minister Netanyahu wants to appoint a former senior police official who has represented the premier’s family as the next police commissioner, Channel 12 news reports.

The network says Netanyahu’s Likud party has floated Yaakov Borovsky’s name in talks with the Blue and White party and has asked to dismantle a commission that must approve the nomination of senior officials.

Netanyahu’s office denies the reports and says the prime minister, who faces criminal charges in a series of graft probes, isn’t involved in picking a new police chief.

Borovsky himself was investigated in 2004 over suspicions he offered then-prime minister Ariel Sharon favorable treatment in a corruption probe if he was appointed police commissioner. In 2015, he represented the Netanyahu family after a State Comptroller report alleged financial improprieties at the Prime Minister’s Residence and his private home in Caesarea.