Israeli police recommends indicting Prime minister Netanyahu for corruption

Israeli police recommends indicting Netanyahu for corruption

Jerusalem:Just a day after the end of term of Israel Police Commissioner Roni Alshich, the Israel Police has recommended to the prosecutors to charge Prime Minister Netanyahu and his wife Sarah with corruption following an investigation into their relationship with the leadership of Bezeq, the country’s largest telecommunications provider.

Netanyahu denied all the allegations levelled against him and said that the recommendations of the Israeli police to file corruption charges against him and his wife were not legally binding, and expressed confidence that the prosecutor’s office would not find grounds to refer the case to court.

“The police’s recommendations regarding me and my wife are not surprising, nor is the transparent timing of their publication. These recommendations were set and leaked before the investigations even began. Police recommendations have no legal status. Only recently, the competent authorities have rejected the police recommendations against a series of public figures” Netanyahu said in a tweet.

Local media reports said that the police released the recommendations of the investigation of File 4000 and said that it had formulated a test against Benjamin Netanyahu regarding bribery, fraud and breach of trust committed by him and by Shaul Elovitch, controlling shareholder of the Bezeq Group and the Walla website.

Police sources also said that the main witness in the affair is Israel Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan. Walla news reported that when Erdan was the minister of communications, he opposed the outline that the prime minister had led in the matter of Bezeq Walla and Yesha. It is also said that many investigative materials were collected, including tapes, emails, and vetsafim, which directly link Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sarah to commit the offenses.

The case which was under investigation by the Israeli Securities Administration since June 2017, and the results which indicated that there is a case for charges to be leveled against Elovich and others was transferred to the State Prosecutor’s Office.

Earlier, Israel times had reported that opposition leaders had also scorned a ministerial decision to not extend the term of Police Commissioner Roni Alsheich for another year, claiming he was being pushed out for recommending corruption indictments against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with some suggesting the aim was to put a more malleable figure at the helm of the force.

Earlier this year Netanyahu’s office had also refuted all charges and said that ‘this is another set of false charges against the prime minister, and will be proven as such during the investigation.’

 

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