Bibi Likely To Be Questioned On Bezeq Probe
Local Editor
Days after recommending Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be indicted for bribery in two separate graft probes, police are now unofficially treating him as a suspect in another corruption investigation and plan to question him under caution in the coming months, police sources were reported as saying Sunday night.
In this case, too, Netanyahu is suspected of bribery, Channel 10 news reported.
Meanwhile, Hebrew media reports quoted the sources as saying that Netanyahu, in the investigation dubbed Case 4000, is suspected of furthering a deal under which Shaul Elovitch, owner of the Walla news site and the controlling shareholder of the Bezeq communications company, swayed coverage of Netanyahu and his family on Walla, in exchange for the Communications Ministry enacting policies potentially worth hundreds of millions of shekels for Elovitch.
Netanyahu was the Zionist acting communications minister at the time of several alleged illicit deals made with Elovitch, one of which included helping Bezeq buy the satellite cable provider Yes and override any anti-trust issues raised by ministry officials.
In addition, Netanyahu's wife, Sara, is also expected to be questioned as a suspect over her efforts to influence coverage via close relations with Elovitch's wife and daughter, several outlets reported.
Earlier Sunday, after the case was transferred from the so-called "Israel" ‘Securities' Authority to the Zionist Police, two "very close" associates of Netanyahu were arrested, along with three senior officials in the Bezeq phone company, and two relatives of one of the officials.
The names of those arrested are subject to a gag order, but according to reports, the Netanyahu associates arrested are a media consultant and the director general of an unnamed ministry.
Several media outlets, including The Times of ‘Israel', reported the names of the suspects following the remand hearing, which named them publicly, only to be forced to rescind the publication after the court later ceded to a police request to extend the gag order.
Investigators uncovered strong evidence that Elovitch directed Walla to drastically change its coverage of both Benjamin and Sara Netanyahu, and believe that it is "only a matter of time" before one of the current suspects agrees to testify that Netanyahu was behind the decision, Hadashot news reported.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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