Netanyahu ally suspected of trying to bribe judge to drop corruption case
Authorities reckon Nir Hefetz offered a promotion to a judge in exchange for dropping the case
Israeli police said they suspect a close confidant of Benjamin Netanyahu of offering a sitting judge a top post in exchange for dropping a corruption case against the Israeli prime minister’s wife.
The development marks the latest scandal to engulf the beleaguered Israeli leader’s inner circle, with Mr Netanyahu already standing accused of bribery in two other cases.
Nir Hefetz, a former spokesman of the Netanyahu family, is suspected of suggesting to Judge Hila Gerstel that she could be appointed attorney general if she killed a pending case against Sara Netanyahu’s excessive household spending.
The offer never materialised.
Earlier, police named Mr Hefetz as one of two Netanyahu associates under arrest for their suspected role in a separate wide-ranging corruption probe.
Mr Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing and said the latest charges against him were merely a continuation of a wider media-orchestrated witch hunt against him and his family.
“Nir Hefetz never presented this ludicrous offer to the prime minister and his wife, he was never asked by them to make such an offer and we can’t imagine that Hefetz would even imagine such a thing,” Mr Netanyahu said.
Earlier on Tuesday, with an initial gag order lifted, police identified Mr Hefetz and Shlomo Filber, the former director of the communications ministry under Netanyahu, as the two suspects in promoting regulation worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Israel’s Bezeq telecom company, in return for favourable coverage of Mr Netanyahu in a highly popular subsidiary news site.
Mr Netanyahu, who held the communications portfolio until last year, has not yet been named as a suspect in the case but is expected to be questioned.
Bezeq’s controlling shareholder Shaul Elovitch is also in custody, along with his wife, son and other top Bezeq executives. Former journalists at the Walla news site have attested to being pressured to refrain from negative reporting of Mr Netanyahu.
The new probe comes days after police announced there was sufficient evidence to indict Mr Netanyahu for bribery, fraud and breach of trust in two separate cases.
He is accused of receiving lavish gifts from Hollywood mogul Arnon Milchan and Australian billionaire James Packer.
In return, police say Mr Netanyahu had operated on Mr Milchan’s behalf on US visa matters, legislated a tax break and connected him with an Indian businessman.
In the second case, Mr Netanyahu is accused of offering a newspaper publisher legislation that would weaken his paper’s main rival in return for more favourable coverage.
Mr Netanyahu has long accused the Israeli press of being biased against him and has taken steps to counter it by promoting more sympathetic outlets to him.
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