Netanyahu Named as Beneficiary in Telecom Bribery Case
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)
Evidence keeps mounting against him. Will his dirty dealings be his undoing?
Will be finally be held accountable for civil crimes? He remains unaccountable for high crimes of war and against humanity like his Western counterparts.
He’s linked to three cases involving bribery and breach of trust, discussed in earlier articles.
So-called Case 4000 involves Walla news owner/controlling shareholder of Bezeq telecommunications company Shaul Elovitch, ordering favorable coverage of Netanyahu on his news site in return for benefits arranged for Bezeq.
Netanyahu is suspected of arranging things for Elovitch to receive hundreds of millions of shekels in return for services rendered the prime minister and his family.
According to Israeli media on Tuesday, State Prosecutor’s Office securities department head Yehudit Tirosh directly linked him to the illicit Bezeq deal - at a public hearing on the case, saying:
He was at the center of “a very grave instance of giving and taking bribes,” adding there’s “a real suspicion based on evidence of a disruption of the investigation by the two (key) suspects” - Elovitch and his former spokesman Nir Hefetz.
Bribes given and received totaled around $286 million. Media advisor Ei Kamir also faces possible indictment.
Tirosh said “(w)e are talking about enlisting a leading news site to provide adulating coverage in return for regulatory benefits given by the Communications Ministry, the minister of communications and the director-general of the Communications Ministry.”
From November 2014 - February, Netanyahu served as communications minister along his prime ministerial portfolio.
Suspended Communications Ministry director Shlomo Filber turned state’s witness against him, saying he was ordered to arrange the deal between the prime minister and Bezeq, bribery under Israeli law.
The case continues to play out. Will it end with Netanyahu indicted, prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned?
Palestinians and many Israelis will lead the cheers if things turn out this way.
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