New Netanyahu Corruption Allegations: The Details

New Netanyahu Corruption Allegations: The Details
20, 2018
JERUSALEM — Two more serious allegations have surfaced in the metastasizing corruption investigation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his inner circle:
that one of his aides tried to bribe a judge to quash a criminal case involving Mr. Netanyahu’s wife, and that he or his aides traded lucrative regulatory approvals for favorable coverage on a news website owned by Israel’s largest telecommunications company.
THE PLAYERS Shaul Elovitch, a friend of Mr. Netanyahu’s
and owner of the Eurocom Group holding company; his wife, Iris, a friend of Sara Netanyahu’s; their son, Or, an aide to his father and board member in some of their holdings; Stella Handler, the chief executive of Bezeq; Shlomo Filber, the director-general of the communications ministry under Mr. Netanyahu.
UNDER INVESTIGATION NOW Possible violations of money-laundering, breach-of-trust
and securities laws; whether Mr. Netanyahu’s aides traded official actions for favorable coverage on the Walla site; possible obstruction of the Securities Authority’s investigation.
THE SECURITIES PROBE In November, the Israeli Securities Authority said it had found evidence
that financial reports on the Yes-Bezeq merger had been doctored to produce a windfall for Mr. Elovitch, and that Mr. Filber had routinely passed inside information from the communications ministry to Ms. Handler at Bezeq.
THE APPROACH At Mr. Hefetz’s urging, Mr. Kamir asked Ms. Gerstel, who was on the short list of candidates for attorney general, whether
she would be willing to quash the investigation into Ms. Netanyahu in exchange for being chosen for the position, investigators say.
Heavily indebted, he arranged a merger of Yes into Bezeq in 2015 —
and caused Bezeq to pay several times more than independent valuations showed Yes was worth, investigators say.