An unconfirmed report says that Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has made a final decision to not indict several corporations in the cases in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others are charged with corruption offenses, meaning the trial will not face delays.
Even though the chief editor of the Yedioth Ahronoth daily, Arnon Mozes, and the owner of the Walla news site and the Bezeq telecommunications group, Shaul Elovitch, are charged of bribery, and even though the companies profited from alleged bribery deals, charges will not be filed against Yedioth, Walla and Bezeq, according to the unsourced report by the Globes business newspaper.
The report says there have been fierce disagreements on the matter inside the state prosecution, with some officials arguing that the decision not to indict the corporations goes against the normal enforcement policy. However, Mandelblit reportedly believes that adding the firms to the list of defendants would diminish the roles played in the cases by Mozes and Elovitch and needlessly delay the entire process by many months.
A statement quoting “associates” of Netanyahu says the decision “proves there is no basis for the absurd bribery charge against Prime Minister Netanyahu.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, speaks with then-Cabinet Secretary Avichai Mandelblit during the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, September 21, 2014. (AP/Menahem Kahana, Pool/File)
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