Netanyahu said seeking at least NIS 5 million to cover legal fees

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will likely resubmit his request to receive financial help from associates to cover his legal fees in a series of corruption cases, Israeli television reported Friday, after the national ombudsman ruled he cannot receive such assistance.

Attorneys for Netanyahu have sought permission for American millionaire Spencer Partrich and the premier’s cousin Nathan Milikowsky to pay his legal bills in three criminal investigations in which police have recommended he be indicted, including a probe that centers on lavish gifts from the prime minister’s billionaire friends.

The State Comptroller’s Permits Committee on Wednesday denied Netanyahu’s request, saying it was inappropriate for non-Israeli benefactors to pay for the legal defense in a criminal case relating to receiving funds from wealthy benefactors.

Hadashot TV news quoted unnamed sources close to Netanyahu Friday saying the request was not properly filed, hinting this was due to the prime minister’s late lawyer Yaakov Weinroth being very sick at the time the request was written.

They also said as investigators have spent tens of millions of shekels on the probe, “we’ll ask for at least NIS 5 million ($1,340,000).”

In its decision, the Permits Committee said Netanyahu’s request failed to answer “basic questions,” including the amounts he was seeking from the donors, how much had already been contributed, and to which cases the money would be designated.

“Such funding may harm public trust in government in the context of integrity,” the committee said. “Under the circumstances, giving permission to break the rules is not justified or appropriate from the public’s perspective.”

A spokesperson for the Netanyahu family declined a Times of Israel request to comment on the decision or to explain why the prime minister’s legal team withheld such information from the committee.

Netanyahu’s net worth is estimated at NIS 42 million ($11 million), Forbes Israel reported in 2015, making him the fourth-richest politician in Israel at the time. He is currently the richest member of the 120-seat Knesset.

The publication of the decision comes days after police investigators said there was enough evidence to bring Netanyahu to trial on charges of accepting bribes, fraud and breach of trust, and fraudulently accepting benefits in a corruption investigation known as Case 4000. It is the third case in which police have recommended bribery charges against the prime minister. They also recommended that his wife, Sara, stand trial in the case.

Last year, both Milikowsky and Partrich were questioned by police in their investigation of Netanyahu dubbed Case 1000, in which the prime minister and his wife are suspected of receiving some NIS 1 million ($282,000) in illicit gifts from businessmen in return for certain benefits. In his testimony, Partrich admitted to police that he had bought Netanyahu a number of expensive suits but said Milikowsky paid him back for them, Haaretz reported in January.

The prime minister is also being investigated in Case 2000, which involves alleged negotiations with the publisher of the Yedioth Aharonoth daily, Arnon “Noni” Mozes, and focuses on the prime minister’s supposed promise to advance legislation to hobble the Sheldon Adelson-controlled Israel Hayom paper in exchange for more favorable coverage from Yedioth.

According to a new Channel 10 report Friday, Netanyahu told police investigators he spoke with Adelson about matters he discussed with Mozes, though it said this likely did not include proposed legislation — that the prime minister publicly opposed — that would have curbed freebie Israel Hayom’s circulation.

The report, which did not provide a source, said Adelson acknowledged during police testimony he spoke with Netanyahu about his talks with Mozes and that there were contradictions in the two men’s versions of the conversation.

The network did not report what those contradictions were.

Adelson, along with his Israeli-born wife Miriam Adelson, have been questioned as witnesses in the case.

After one such testimony, Adelson reportedly said he was “surprised, disappointed and angered” to learn of conversations between Netanyahu and Mozes.

The police recommendations to indict Netanyahu in Case 2000 and the other two investigations have been submitted to Attorney General’s Office, where they will first be reviewed by the state prosecutor before going to Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit.

Netanyahu has denied wrongdoing in all of the cases, and has accused police of waging a witch hunt against him.