The Netanyahus face a new scandal
Israel, Politics, 10/22/1999

On the eve of his fiftieth birthday, former Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu suffered a most humiliating experience when on Thursday he was asked to report to the police station for questioning. The questioning, which also included his wife, Sarah, and lasted for several hours came a day after police detectives came with court orders to search his home, office and warehouse.

The search's goal was twofold: to find valuable articles that were given to Netanyahu in his capacity as prime minister, which he and/or his wife took for private property and to find corroborating evidence to allegations that Netanyahu took bribes in office as well as tried to defraud the state into paying for his privately-incurred expenses.

The police suspect that former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara illegally took expensive presents and articles from the state received as gifts during the course of Netanyahu's term in office. The detectives confiscated documents in their search of the home and offices of Netanyahu that they believe may shed some light on the original allegations of Netanyahu's having accepted bribes and of trying to defraud the state into paying for personal expenses incurred by the Netanyahus. The articles were loaded in dozens of boxes onto five vans that the police brought with them to the warehouse. The sensitive investigation reached the stage of search warrants actually issued against the former prime minister by virtue of a deal cut by Avner Amedi, Netanyahu's unpaid handyman, with the State Attorney's Office.

Amedi apparently supplied police with sufficiently incriminating evidence to warrant a court-sanctioned search. Netanyahu's lawyer has said that the allegations against his client were ridiculous and contended that Netanyahu was being "persecuted" by the police for political reasons. Netanyahu is simply being persecuted because of "fears certain people on the political levels have," said David Shimron, Netanyahu's lawyer.

Lawyers for the Netanyahus insist that the property in the prime minister's official residence was packed according to regulations and mostly transferred to a state warehouse. The Israeli law of 1979 (public service law-gifts) sets the limits for public officials, including the prime minister, a minister, director general of a government office, and others, in all matters connected to the receipt of gifts. The law states that a public worker is permitted to receive a gift of reasonable value, a gift from his colleagues, a gift for his service or his position, a prize for his achievements from the treasury, or a publicly awarded prize. The law emphasizes that if a public servant (or his or her partner) receives a gift and that gift is not immediately returned, the gift becomes property of the state.

In the framework of the deal with the state Amedi undertook to tell his investigators the truth about the affair. His testimony, supported by documents and recordings, is one of the reasons that the police and State Attorney have decided to expand the investigation.

Previous Stories:
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  Barak is in, Netanyahu on his way out   (5/17/1999)
  El-Husseini: Negotiating with Barak is difficult; reaching understanding with Natenyahu is impossible   (5/15/1999)

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