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| Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing an eighth police grilling over corruption allegations that have fuelled speculation he could be forced to step down or call an early election (AFP Photo/GALI TIBBON) |
Jerusalem
(AFP) - Israeli police questioned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his
wife for several hours on Friday over corruption allegations that threaten the
right-wing premier's long tenure.
The
questioning, the eighth such session since 2017, came after police last month
recommended Netanyahu's indictment in two graft cases.
"The
Prime Minister and his wife were questioned for a number of hours as part of an
investigation," a police spokesman said in a statement without giving more
details.
Israeli
media said the five-hour grilling related to allegations Netanyahu sought a
deal with Shaul Elovitch, the controlling shareholder of telecoms group Bezeq,
which would have seen Netanyahu receive good press on Elovitch's Walla! news
website in exchange for business concessions.
Netanyahu,
68, has denied all charges and rejected talk of stepping down. He is due to
meet US President Donald Trump, perhaps his closest international ally, at the
White House on Monday.
"I am
sure that there will be nothing and I want to tell millions of Israelis that
the extraordinary show of support me, my wife and my family have received is heartwarming,"
he said in a video posted on Facebook after the questioning.
He added he
was looking forward to meeting Trump, who he called a "true friend of
Israel."
An AFP
journalist saw police arriving at Netanyahu's official Jerusalem residence in
two vehicles at around 9 am (0700 GMT).
His wife Sara was questioned at the national fraud squad headquarters near Tel Aviv, media said.
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Police
visit Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Jerusalem residence on
March 2, 2018
for what Israeli media said was an eighth round of questioning
over allegations
of fraud and bribery (AFP Photo/Ahikam SERI)
|
His wife Sara was questioned at the national fraud squad headquarters near Tel Aviv, media said.
Elovitch
and Nir Hefetz, a former media adviser to the Netanyahu family, were among
seven suspects arrested last week as fraud suspicions against Netanyahu
snowballed.
New
arrest reported
In
addition, Israeli army radio said Friday that "a former senior
communications ministry official close to the prime minister was detained this
morning for questioning in the Bezeq affair."
The former
official was not named.
Channel 10
News reported on Thursday evening that police have seen text conversations
between Sara Netanyahu and Elovitch's wife Iris which strengthen suspicions
that their husbands traded favours.
Iris
Elovitch and the couple's son Or were among the seven suspects rounded up last
week.
She was
released from custody to house arrest Monday and Or Elovitch was freed on bail,
police said.
A statement issued after the broadcast by advisers to Netanyahu branded the report "fake news."
 |
Israeli
tycoon Shaul Elovitch appears in the Justice Court in Tel Aviv
on February 22,
2018 (AFP Photo/JACK GUEZ)
|
A statement issued after the broadcast by advisers to Netanyahu branded the report "fake news."
"No
such things ever occurred," it said in Hebrew. "Tendentious and lying
leaks against Mrs. Netanyahu are intended to hurt the prime minister and the
Likud government."
Hefetz is
alleged to have acted as a messenger between Netanyahu and Bezeq and Walla!
bosses.
He is also
suspected of trying to bribe a retired judge to block a probe into the prime
minister's wife over alleged misuse of public funds.
Public
radio said on Friday that both were being questioned at fraud squad
headquarters simultaneously with Sara Netanyahu but separately.
Police have
now questioned the premier eight times since the beginning of 2017, and last
month said there was sufficient evidence to charge him with graft, fraud and
breach of trust in two other cases.
In one, Netanyahu and family members are suspected of receiving one million shekels ($285,000, 230,000 euros) of luxury cigars, champagne and jewellery from wealthy figures in exchange for financial or personal favours.
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| Israelis demonstrate outside the official residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on March 2, 2018 over accusations of corruption (AFP Photo/AHMAD GHARABLI) |
In one, Netanyahu and family members are suspected of receiving one million shekels ($285,000, 230,000 euros) of luxury cigars, champagne and jewellery from wealthy figures in exchange for financial or personal favours.
In the
other case, investigators suspect the premier of trying to reach an agreement
with the owner of Yediot Aharonot, a top Israeli daily newspaper, for more
favourable coverage.
Israeli
media said police would question him on the Bezeq affair for the first time on
Friday and would also take from him a statement as a witness in suspected
corruption around Israel's purchase of three submarines from German industrial
giant ThyssenKrupp.
The cases
have fuelled speculation he could be forced to step down or call an early election,
but Netanyahu says he is innocent of any wrongdoing.
The other
parties in his right-wing coalition government have so far stood by him.
Eli Kamir,
another former Netanyahu adviser arrested last week, was on Wednesday released
from police custody but placed under house arrest.
Shlomo
Filber, a Netanyahu ally for more than 20 years and former director general of
the communications ministry, was freed last week after agreeing to turn state's
witness in exchange for avoiding jail, police said.
He is
suspected of mediating between Netanyahu and Elovitch and promoting regulatory
changes worth millions to Bezeq.
#UPDATE New setback for Israeli PM Netanyahu as ex-aide signs state witness deal in corruption probe linked to his former boss: media https://t.co/Xzz1MWC0JQ pic.twitter.com/qsYHfNBxkD— AFP news agency (@AFP) March 5, 2018
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