Israeli police recommend charging PM Benjamin Netanyahu on corruption charges
Israel’s police have said there is enough evidence to press charges against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a third corruption probe.
In a statement, they said authorities had found evidence of fraud and bribery against the Prime Minister, who faced similar allegations in February.
Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, are suspected of advancing regulatory benefits worth as much as 1bn shekels (£210m) to Israeli telecom company Bezeq, in return for favourable media coverage.
The police also said there was enough evidence to charge Shaul Elovitch, the company’s majority shareholder, with receiving bribes.
Netanyahu took to Twitter to respond to the allegations, denying all wrongdoing.
He tweeted: “The police recommendations for me and my wife do not surprise anyone, nor the transparent timing of their publication. These recommendations were set up and leaked before the interrogations even began. Police recommendations do not have any legal status. Only recently the competent officials have declined sweeping the police recommendations against a series of public personalities.”
“I'm sure in this case the competent factors, after they examine things, will come to the same conclusion that there was nothing because there was nothing,” he added.
Police made similar recommendations earlier this year in reference to alleged conversations Netanyahu had with the owner of Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, in which he allegedly discussed limiting the circulation of competing media outlets in return for positive coverage.
Israel’s attorney general will now decide whether to press the charges.