Police probe into PM purportedly prolonged by problems pinning down Packer

A graft investigation into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will continue for at least another two months, but will likely end with a recommendation to indict him, according to a report Monday.

Police have been stymied in the case, a probe into gifts Netanyahu is suspected of receiving from wealthy businessmen, by their inability to question key figures in the case abroad, including Australian billionaire James Packer, Channel 2 news reported.

The investigation, known as “Case 1000,” revolves around suspicions that Netanyahu and his family received hundreds of thousands of shekels’ worth of luxury gifts from businessmen, including American-Israeli Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan and Packer, a friend of the Netanyahus.

Packer is said to have paid for expensive meals and accommodation for the Netanyahus’ son Yair.

According to the report, which did not cite any sources, police recently did a reassessment of the case and found there was much more work to be done, despite comments from police officials earlier this year that the investigation was drawing to a close.

Despite the holdups, police expect that there will be enough evidence to recommend putting Netanyahu on trial, but an indictment of the prime minister would only come in the summer of 2018, according to the report.

Netanyahu was questioned for the fourth time last month about the case, facing queries based on recent testimony from Milchen.

Netanyahu is also being investigated is a second probe, known as “Case 2000,” over recordings of conversations between him and Israeli newspaper publisher Arnon Mozes, in which the pair seemed to negotiate an illicit quid pro quo deal that would have seen the prime minister hamper a rival daily in return for more favorable coverage from Mozes’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

Last month, police chief Roni Alsheich said that both ongoing corruption investigations into Netanyahu were nearing completion, telling reporters, “We will be finished soon. There have been some constraints, but we are in the final stages.”

The key question in the gifts probe, according to law enforcement officials, is whether Netanyahu, who acknowledged accepting the gifts but insisted they were less valuable than stated by investigators, took actions on behalf of his benefactors, a quid pro quo that would amount to an illegal conflict of interest. The value of the gifts reportedly came to hundreds of thousands of dollars and included expensive cigars, champagne, meals and hotel rooms.

Netanyahu has repeatedly denied the allegations against him, insisting the gifts from Milchan and Packer were friendly gestures.

Milchan has been questioned by Lahav 433 investigators twice so far in connection to Case 1000, and his initial testimony bolstered the state’s case for a corruption indictment against the prime minister, police sources told Channel 2 last month.

But at his second round of questioning, Milchan reportedly “dramatically” walked back two key elements of his testimony. Channel 2 reported that Milchan amended his initial assessments as to the total amount that he spent on the gifts for the Netanyahus and his assertion that the prime minister was aware of the cost.

According to other Hebrew media reports that cited police sources, Milchan told police he had asked Packer, who is a mutual friend of his and of the Netanyahus, to help shoulder the cost of the gifts and that Packer paid a quarter of the value.

In light of Milchan’s remarks, police began to pursue Packer for questioning, Channel 2 said, but have yet to pin down the globe-trotting billionaire. Investigators reportedly asked Australian authorities last month to allow them to depose Packer, Channel 10 has reported, citing police sources saying he may be considered a suspect in the investigation alongside the prime minister.

Merely accepting the gifts without revealing the fact in a conflict-of-interest report could amount to a breach of ethics laws for the prime minister, but Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit is said to be wary of indicting a sitting prime minister for ethics missteps, and has reportedly instructed investigators to seek robust evidence of actual graft before contemplating an indictment.

An indictment could spark a political crisis that might force Netanyahu to resign, though under the strict requirements of the law, a sitting prime minister is only required to step down if he or she is actually convicted, and only if the sentence includes a designation of “moral turpitude.”