Netanyahu to be questioned for seventh time in graft probe

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to be questioned for the seventh time at the end of the week in a criminal investigation over suspicions he received illegal gifts and favors from businessmen while advancing their business interests.

Reports Tuesday said the prime minister will face police interrogators on Friday. Netanyahu was last questioned two weeks ago, when he sat with investigators for four hours at his official residence in Jerusalem.

Channel 10 reported that police are expected to confront Netanyahu with testimony from Arnon Milchan, an Israeli film producer suspected of giving the Netanyahu family hundreds of thousands of shekels worth of gifts.

Netanyahu is facing two separate criminal investigations, known as Case 1000 and Case 2000. He has denied wrongdoing in both cases.

Case 1000 revolves around alleged illicit gifts given to Netanyahu and his family by billionaire benefactors, most notably from Milchan.

In November, Hadas Klein, Milchan’s personal assistant, told police that Sara Netanyahu would call her up regularly to ask for cigars and champagne, Hadashot news reported at the time.

“There were code words for champagne and cigars,” she was quoted as saying. “It went on for years. There was an understanding that Arnon had to supply the Netanyahu couple with whatever they wanted. The cigars were requested by [Benjamin] Netanyahu.”

Channel 10 news has also reported that Milchan’s driver told investigators he was once forced to leave his home in the middle of the Passover Seder to deliver champagne at the request of the prime minister’s wife, Sara Netanyahu.

While leaked reports of the police investigation have indicated that Milchan spent some NIS 400,000-600,000 ($100,000-150,000) on champagne and cigars for the Netanyahus over the better part of a decade, the prime minister and his wife have reportedly told police that the sums involved were far lower, and that the gifts were unremarkable, since the Milchans were their best friends. Netanyahu has also reportedly told police the items were given willingly, making them gifts, rather than demands.

At the end of November Israeli investigators in cooperation with Australian authorities questioned Australian billionaire James Packer as part of the corruption probe.

Police are reportedly looking into whether Netanyahu tried to help Packer gain residency in Israel and aided Milchan with a US visa request. Packer, who also bought a home next to Netanyahu in the upscale coastal city of Caesarea, is reportedly seeking residency status for tax purposes.

In a separate investigation, Case 2000, Netanyahu is suspected of conducting a clandestine quid-pro-quo deal with Yedioth Ahronoth publisher and owner Arnon “Noni” Mozes, in which the prime minister was said to have promised Mozes he would hobble Yedioth’s main commercial rival, the freebie Israel Hayom, in exchange for friendlier coverage from Yedioth.