State witness agreement with key Netanyahu trial witness Shlomo Filber to be annulled

The State Attorney’s Office announces that the state witness agreement with Shlomo Filber, a key witness in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial and former Communications Ministry director, is to be annulled.

In a brief statement to the press, the State Attorney’s Office says that Filber was informed of the decision, made in accordance with the position of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, “after an evidentiary basis indicating that he violated the state witness agreement was placed in front of them.”

Filber responds on X: “I’m ready!”

אני מוכן!

— Shlomo Filber (@filbers) April 8, 2024

During a police investigation, Filber turned state witness and gave testimony in which he incriminated himself and Netanyahu in Case 4000 in which Netanyahu is charged with bribery and breach of trust over allegations he helped the Bezeq telecommunications company obtain regulatory benefits in return for favorable media coverage from the Walla news site whose owner, Shaul Elovitch, also owned Bezeq.

Having initially told prosecutors that Netanyahu encouraged him to provide the regulatory benefits to Bezeq, during testimony in court Filber changed this version of events and said the prime minister had indicated that he should do whatever he thought would best promote competition in the telecommunications market.