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Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu set to be indicted in corruption cases as election looms
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Contributor | IndyGeorgia |
Last Edited | IndyGeorgia Feb 28, 2019 09:38pm |
Category | Investigation |
News Date | Feb 28, 2019 02:35pm |
Description | After months of anticipation, Israel’s attorney general announced his intentions to indict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in three criminal cases, an unprecedented action likely to have a major, if uncertain, impact on his chances to win a fourth consecutive term in the nation’s April 9 elections.
In a 57-page letter, Atty. Gen. Avichai Mandelblit said he had decided, after the conclusion of more than two years of criminal investigations, that Netanyahu, 69, should face charges of fraud, bribery and breach of public trust.
In the case considered most legally perilous, Netanyahu is accused of abusing his role as minister of communications so as to provide regulatory concessions to his friend, the Israeli communications titan Shaul Elovitch, who was the controlling shareholder of Bezeq telecom.
Mandelblit also announced his intention to indict Elovitch, who is accused of benefiting by up to $300,000 from the deal, through which Walla news, Bezeq’s popular website, was to provide Netanyahu supportive coverage.
Pending a hearing in which Netanyahu has the right to dispute each of the charges, formal indictments would be filed against the prime minster, who is seeking reelection in a polarized political field in which more than two dozen parties are vying for 120 seats in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.
“You have damaged the reputation of public service and the public’s faith in it,” Mandelblit wrote, in a blistering explanation of his long-awaited decision. “You operated under conflict of interests, you abused your authority ... and you corrupted public servants working under you,” he said, in a reference to numerous senior Netanyahu aides whose testimony as state’s witnesses helped to build the prosecution’s brief. |
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