New Netanyahu Corruption Allegations: The Details<br />20, 2018<br />JERUSALEM — Two more serious allegations have surfaced in the metastasizing corruption investigation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his inner circle:<br />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.<br />THE PLAYERS Shaul Elovitch, a friend of Mr. Netanyahu’s<br />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.<br />UNDER INVESTIGATION NOW Possible violations of money-laundering, breach-of-trust<br />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.<br />THE SECURITIES PROBE In November, the Israeli Securities Authority said it had found evidence<br />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.<br />THE APPROACH At Mr. Hefetz’s urging, Mr. Kamir asked Ms. Gerstel, who was on the short list of candidates for attorney general, whether<br />she would be willing to quash the investigation into Ms. Netanyahu in exchange for being chosen for the position, investigators say.<br />Heavily indebted, he arranged a merger of Yes into Bezeq in 2015 —<br />and caused Bezeq to pay several times more than independent valuations showed Yes was worth, investigators say.
