Sara Netanyahu questioned for second time over graft allegations

Sara Netanyahu spent five hours in the police hot seat Monday, as the prime minister’s wife was questioned for the second time in less than a week over allegations of financial impropriety.

The questioning at the headquarters of the Israel Police’s anti-corruption unit Lahav 433 was in connection with an ongoing investigation into claims of improper behavior and misuse of state funds relating to the Prime Minister’s Residence, including receiving goods under false pretenses, falsifying documents and breach of trust.

Netanyahu was specifically asked about suspicions that an outside electrician, Avi Fahima, was hired by the official residence in order to circumvent restrictions on public funds covering upkeep costs at the Netanyahus’ private home in Caesarea.

Fahima had previously been disqualified from carrying out work for the Netanyahus at taxpayer expense because of a conflict of interest linked to his work for them on a private basis, but then was found working at the official residence under the pretense of working for another contractor.

Netanyahu said she was not involved in hiring Fahima and presented investigators with paperwork she said showed the workman was paid privately for his work and not from state funds, the Hebrew daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported.

Further allegations, first revealed in a state comptroller report last year, relate to the use of state funds for purchasing furniture designated for the Caesarea home. The furniture was apparently purchased for the official residence in Jerusalem and then moved to the Netanyahu home while their older furniture was taken to the PM’s residence to replace it.

Investigators also grilled the prime minister’s wife over suspicions of improper use of state funds for her late father’s medical care, although this is a relatively new charge and the details of this are yet to emerge.

Although police did not set a date for another interview with Netanyahu, they noted that she may still be called back for further questioning.

The Justice Ministry has not made any announcements pertaining to the questioning, despite public interest. It is not yet clear whether Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein is considering a criminal probe against Sara Netanyahu.

State Comptroller Yosef Shapira’s February 2015 report detailed several instances of misuse of state funds, some of which he said should be probed as a criminal matter.

Among other findings, Shapira’s report noted that Fahima was listed as having been called to make repairs at taxpayer expense nearly every weekend over many months, including on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur, raising suspicions that the reporting of payments to Fahima may have been inaccurate.

The comptroller added that Fahima was called by Sara Netanyahu or her staff directly, so there was only a scant paper trail to show whether the electrical problem purportedly leading to the weekend repair calls, which are more expensive than weekday calls and require summoning a special outside electrician instead of the residence’s inhouse one, couldn’t have waited until the start of the work week.