PM’s chief of staff said detained, home searched over suspected obstruction in Bild leak probe

Police have reportedly detained Tzachi Braverman, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief of staff, for interrogation over his alleged attempt to obstruct a probe into the leak of classified intelligence to Bild, a German tabloid.

Police acknowledge detaining an aide to the premier. Hebrew media outlets report that the suspect is Braverman.

“This morning, a senior official in the Prime Minister’s Office has been detained by Lahav 433 officers on suspicion of obstructing investigative procedures,” police say in a statement.

Investigators in the police’s Lahav 433 major crimes unit searched Braverman’s home this morning and are now questioning him in the unit’s Lod headquarters on suspicion of obstructing justice.

The interrogation this morning comes after Netanyahu’s indicted former spokesman Eli Feldstein claimed Braverman knew of a covert investigation into the leak months before it was publicized and had assured the ex-aide that he’d be able to quash the probe.

In an interview with Channel 12 last month, Feldstein said Braverman asked to meet him late at night in an underground parking lot in the Kirya military headquarters, where he informed the former spokesman that the IDF had launched an investigation into the leak.

A source in Lahav 433 tells Channel 12 that Feldstein is expected to give testimony in their offices today.

Braverman is slated to take over as Israel’s next ambassador to the United Kingdom in the coming months.