Prosecution official: If PM doesn’t show for hearing, we’ll indict the next day

The state prosecution will immediately move to indict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he fails to show up for a pre-indictment hearing in his three criminal cases, a source in the prosecution told Channel 13 news on Monday.

Netanyahu’s attorneys have asked for a delay in the hearing process, citing insufficient time to study the case material, while also refusing to take the case files for more than a month.

“If Netanyahu wants, he can take the materials. If he doesn’t, then he doesn’t,” the unnamed source said. “That’s his problem. If he doesn’t come to the hearing? We’ll file the indictment the next day. He’s making a mockery of the system.”

Mandelblit announced in mid-February that he intends to indict Netanyahu, pending a hearing, on fraud and breach of trust charges in three corruption cases, and on a bribery charge in one of them.

Citing fears of leaks to the press of the evidence against Netanyahu in the middle of a hard-fought election campaign, the prime minister’s attorneys had asked Mandelblit to freeze the hearing process and not release the evidence in the case to them until after the vote on April 9, even at the cost of delaying their preparations for the pre-indictment hearings. Mandelblit accepted, releasing the material on April 10.

However, Netanyahu’s lawyers have yet to actually accept the case files.

A law enforcement official quoted by the Kan public broadcaster was also exasperated with the defense’s conduct. “Enough with this circus,” he said. “It needs to be stopped.”

The attorneys have said they have delayed collecting the material because of unresolved issues regarding their legal fees.

The Justice Ministry said on Sunday that it had sent a courier to deliver the case documents and Mandelblit’s response letter to the delay request directly to the office of Netanyahu’s attorney Navot Tel Zur, but the office staff refused to receive it.

“That refusal is puzzling,” the Justice Ministry said in a statement, adding that the attorney general would “weigh his moves accordingly” and that Mandelblit’s response letter was sent by email due the Tel Zur’s refusal to take the delivery.

Tel Zur rejected the accusation, claiming that the Justice Ministry courier had said he was under orders only to hand the material to Tel Zur himself, who was not in the office at the time. The courier then decided to leave without delivering the documents, the lawyer said in a letter.

Attorneys for Netanyahu on Friday asked for the pre-indictment hearing to be delayed, saying the current deadline of July 10 did not provide them enough time to go over the case files. They affirmed that they wanted a hearing, but noted that the premier faced three complex cases. They did not offer an alternate date.

“The attorney general clarified that there is a serious problem with the argument about the large scale of the documents, and the long period of time needed to study them, when it is being espoused by people who for so long have chosen not to take the investigation material and start reviewing it,” the Justice Ministry said in its Sunday statement.

Netanyahu’s attorneys are locked in a battle with the Permits Committee in the State Comptroller’s Office over his request to fund his defense with the help of wealthy foreign benefactors. The committee has already rejected the request twice. On Sunday, it said it will only consider it a third time once Netanyahu gives details on his assets.

At the same time, the prime minister is reportedly pushing legislation that will allow him to use parliamentary immunity to avoid facing the charges.

On Monday night, Netanyahu called a report that alleges he is pushing a law that would curb the Supreme Court’s ability to strike down such a measure a “distortion.”

An unnamed Justice Ministry official told the Ynet news site over the weekend that “no one is under any illusions: Netanyahu wants to buy time to arrange for himself — once his coalition is ready — an immunity law that will prevent him from standing trial.”

The prime minister’s attorneys made their request to postpone the hearing on the last day allotted to them by Mandelblit. The attorney general had warned late last month that the premier’s lawyers must schedule the proceedings by May 10 or lose the opportunity to present their case before criminal charges are handed down.

Hebrew media reports have indicated that Mandelblit is expected to approve the delay request, granting Netanyahu several more weeks in which to hold the hearing, beyond the July 10 deadline he had previously set.

Haaretz reported Saturday that Mandelblit may agree to a delay until September, but will only consider doing so once Netanyahu’s attorneys have collected the evidence.