Probe into Netanyahu’s illicit gifts could take 2 more months — report

The police investigation into allegations Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted expensive gifts from wealthy businessmen is likely to take a further two months, Channel 2 news reports.

Police are reportedly still seeking to question Australian billionaire James Packer as well as several figures outside of the country. Packer has emerged as a key figure in the ongoing corruption, along with Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan.

In what they have dubbed “Case 1000,” police are probing whether Netanyahu’s accepting expensive gifts from Milchan and Packer, and then taking actions on their behalf, amounts to an illegal conflict of interest. The gifts reportedly amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars and included expensive cigars, champagne, meals, and hotel rooms.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his wife Sara (C) and their son Yair seen with actress Kate Hudson at an event held at the home of producer Arnon Milchan (right), March 6, 2014. (Avi Ohayon/GPO/Flash90)

If police do recommend pressing charges against the prime minister, the attorney general could take up to a year to officially present an indictment, the report adds.