JERUSALEM – Police said investigators on Tuesday questioned Israeli PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahu over one of several graft cases that threatento topple him.
“The prime minister was questioned for several hours at his residence todayin the course of an investigation being carried out by the national fraudand serious crimes unit and the securities authority,” police said in astatement.
The police did not say what he was questioned about but Israeli media saidthe subject was alleged corruption involving local telecoms giant Bezeq andits largest shareholder, Shaul Elovitch.
This is the 11th time that Netanyahu has been questioned in various cases,either as a suspect or a witness.
Last month, he was quizzed as a witness in a probe of alleged corruptionover the state purchase of three German submarines.
He is not considered a suspect in that case, but some of his closeassociates have been questioned several times.
In a separate case, his wife Sara was last month charged with misusingstate funds to buy catered meals costing $100,000 (85,000 euros) by falselydeclaring there were no cooks available at the premier s official residence.
Her trial is to open at the Jerusalem magistrates court on October 7.
In February, police recommended that the premier be indicted in two cases,though the attorney general has yet to decide whether to do so.
In the Bezeq case, Netanyahu is alleged to have sought favourable coveragefrom another Elovitch company, the Walla news site, in exchange forgovernment policies that may have benefited the mogul s interests to thetune of hundreds of millions of dollars.
A statement from Netanyahu s personal spokesman after Tuesday s questioningsaid there was no such trade-off.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu has never made a deal with Elovitch in exchangefor supportive coverage,” it said.
“On the contrary, for years the prime minister has been consistentlycovered by the Walla site in a hostile manner.”
It added that all decisions he made relating to Bezeq were based ondecisions by professionals, including the Antitrust Authority, the Cableand Satellite Council and the legal adviser to the communications ministry.
In addition to the premiership, Netanyahu also held the communicationsportfolio between November 2014 and February 2017, covering the run-up tothe March 2015 elections when the deal with Elovitch is alleged to havebeen done.
Netanyahu, prime minister for a total of around 12 years, has alwaysmaintained his innocence in all the cases, but the investigations havegradually ratcheted up speculation over whether he will eventually beforced from office.
So far his coalition partners have stood by him despite the allegations,and the prime minister is not obliged to step down even if formallycharged. – APP/AFP