Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was questioned Monday night by police for about three hours at his residence in Jerusalem over long-running allegations of receiving graft.
The team of investigators questioned the 67-year-old Israeli leader “under caution,” police spokeswoman Luba Samri said in a text message, meaning that anything he says could be used in court if he is eventually prosecuted. Netanyahu said earlier in the day that the police would fail to find anything criminal.
“We hear the air of celebration on television and from the opposition,” he said in broadcast remarks. “I say: Not so fast. Nothing will come of it.”
Police are focusing on two areas of investigation involving suspicions that he received gifts and favors from business people in Israel and abroad, Channel 2 television said, without saying where it got the information. Police declined to elaborate on the investigation beyond a brief statement that it concerned allegations of graft.
The investigation heaps more pressure on Netanyahu as he grapples with the fallout from a recent United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements. Whether it will lead to charges grave enough to threaten his premiership wasn’t clear. So far, Netanyahu isn’t facing pressure within his government to step down, and some allies have accused investigators of a political witch hunt.
Allegations of financial improprieties have dogged the prime minister throughout his career, including misuse of public funds and illicit gift-taking, but he has denied all wrongdoing and never has been charged.
Just this year, convicted French tycoon Arnaud Mimran claimed he had made campaign donations far above the legal limits to Netanyahu, an allegation the prime minister denied.
Netanyahu’s predecessor, Ehud Olmert, is in jail after being convicted of bribery and obstruction of justice, the first person to hold that office to be put behind bars.
The Bloomberg
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