PM told police his cousin gave him thousands of dollars in cash a year — report

Under interrogation in one of three corruption cases against him, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told police that his cousin has given him several thousand dollars in cash a year his whole life. He said that although he could not remember the cumulative figure, it was a “permitted” amount, according to leaked transcripts carried by Channel 12 news on Wednesday.

The prime minister reportedly told investigators that “from the age of zero” until now, his cousin US businessman Nathan Milikowsky gave him several thousand dollars per year. When asked if the money was received by bank transfer, Netanyahu is said to have replied that his cousin physically gave him cash when they met in the United States and in Israel.

When asked what the cumulative amount was over the years, Netanyahu said: “I do not remember, but it is permitted,” before adding that he believed he spoke with Weinroth about it, presumably his late attorney, Dr. Yaakov Weinroth.

The investigator asks Netanyahu: “Sir, do you need financial help?”

The prime minister is said to have responded: “I do not need it, but he helped. His father helped my father, and he said, ‘I will continue it.'”

Milikowsky was reportedly questioned by police last year in the investigation dubbed Case 1000, in which the prime minister is suspected of receiving some NIS 1 million ($282,000) in illicit gifts from businessmen, most of it in cigars and champagne.

Netanyahu reportedly claimed that some of the cigars he was alleged to have received he bought with his own money, while others he purchased with cash given to him by Milikowsky.

In a separate investigation, reports have suggested Netanyahu made a return of over 700 percent on stocks in Milikowsky’s company Seadrift, a company with ties to the German shipbuilder. Netanyahu bought the shares for $400,000 and then sold them in 2010 to his cousin for $4.3 million. That dramatic profit has led to speculation of possible impropriety in Netanyahu’s financial dealings.

In a letter to Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit reported by Channel 13 in April, State Comptroller Yosef Shapira said his office’s Permits Committee did not approve Netanyahu’s stock purchase in Seadrift, despite the premier’s testimony to the contrary.

That probe is tied to the so-called submarine affair, or Case 4000, a massive alleged graft scheme surrounding the multi-billion-shekel state purchase of naval vessels and submarines from Thyssenkrupp. Some have called it the largest suspected graft scandal in the country’s history. The prime minister has so far not been considered a suspect in the case.

According to the Wednesday report, Netanyahu also told police that although he had spoken with Milikowsky about his investments in Israel, “he never asked me for anything.”

“He told me what he was thinking about investing, I do not remember anymore. I told him: ‘Invest in everything in Israel, that’s a good thing.'”

Netanyahu was last month ordered to return $300,000 he received from Milikowsky for his legal defense in a third rejection by the Permits Committee over funding for his legal defense. The panel said it was inappropriate for non-Israeli benefactors to pay for the prime minister’s legal defense in a criminal case relating to his alleged receipt of gifts from wealthy benefactors in Israel and abroad.

Netanyahu faces charges of fraud and breach of trust in Case 1000. He also faces those charges in a pair of other investigations known as cases 2000 and 4000. The attorney general has also recommended Netanyahu be charged with bribery in Case 4000.

Mandelblit has said he intends to indict Netanyahu, who has denied wrongdoing, pending a hearing. The attorney general has agreed to a request from the prime minister to postpone the pre-indictment hearing from July to October, but last month rejected another request to postpone the hearing further.

Netanyahu had asked the attorney general for the additional delay in June, citing the recent April 9 elections, and the new election campaign underway for the September 17 vote.