PM says he okayed decisions benefiting Elovitch since they were approved by professionals

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is asked during his testimony in court about regulatory decisions he signed that the prosecution alleges benefited Walla and Bezeq owner Shaul Elovitch, allegedly in exchange for positive coverage from Walla.

Addressing Netanyahu’s approval in January 2014 of a permit approving the issuance of bonds by the B-Com company, owned by Elovitch, which the indictment says was important financially for Elovitch, Netanyahu says he does not remember signing the document.

The prime minister says he signs numerous such approvals a week and has signed thousands in his time as prime minister, and does so in a pro forma manner. He says if a request arrives on his desk, it means it has been approved by professional civil servants and legal officials in the relevant ministry or the Prime Minister’s Office itself.

“If it didn’t pass one of those stages, it wouldn’t get to me,” says Netanyahu, arguing that the approval was authorized at the professional level at the Communications Ministry, which he was not aware of or involved in. He denies it had anything to do with an alleged quid pro quo agreement he had with Elovitch.

He says he doesn’t “remember one incident in which I didn’t sign” such a document when it came to him

“If I dealt with all these approvals, I wouldn’t [have time to] be prime minister,” says Netanyahu.

His defense lawyer, Amit Hadad, also addresses the sale of the Yad 2 website by Elovitch, the authorization for which Netanyahu approved on May 14, 2014, and which netted Elovitch NIS 800 million.

Netanyahu says he signed this authorization as it too was one of many that arrived at his desk, and asserts he had no knowledge that it was important to Elovitch, as the indictment alleges.

He also insists that his authorization of the sale was a matter of excessive bureaucracy and that his approval did not give Elovitch any extra benefits, “not one shekel.”

He recalls being questioned about the sale by police investigators. “This was a regular transaction. I didn’t know why I was being questioned… I asked them what the position of the professional civil servants was. If they had skipped over the legal advisers or someone else from the professional civil ranks. If so, I’d understand why they were investigating, but if it had passed all the professional ranks — then what were they investigating me for?” he says.

“I asked them. I don’t think I got an answer. They should answer now.”

Hadad asked him about a phone call he held with Elovitch on May 10, four days before he signed on the authorization of the sale of Yad 2. Netanyahu says that he called the Bezeq owner because of his expertise in the Japanese economy and because the prime minister was scheduled to visit Japan later that day. The prime minister says he made similar calls to another wealthy investor when he visited China.