Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's household expenses for his official home in Jerusalem and his private house in Caesarea totaled NIS 1.96 million in 2014.
The figure includes NIS 248,000 for "private use" by the prime minister and his spouse, as opposed to NIS 1.68 million for "official use" by the pair, according to data released Monday by the Prime Minister's Office using the Jerusalem District attorney's office, following a request by the Movement for Freedom of Information.
The expenses represent a decrease in comparison to those of recent years, which are being probed as part of a criminal investigation by the police.
The report presented by the PMO, however, does not separate between the expenses of the private residence with the Prime Minister's Residence, making it difficult to ascertain the breakdown of the expenses for each home.
Instead, the report notes general designations for expenses, like gardening services, cleaning goods, soda, coffee, laundry, maintenance, and market purchases without mentioning the suppliers or the names of the support staff employed in the prime minister's two residences.
Additionally, there is no exact specification of limits on the expenses. In this regard, the police investigation into irregularities discovered in the residential expenses has been looking into the work of electrician Avi Pahima, a Likud member who was employed in Netanyahu's Caesarea home in previous years.
According to the state's attorney, these details are missing from the report due to Shin Bet's belief that specific information of the expenses and the suppliers must not be provided for fear of harming the security of the prime minister.
After the report was released, Movement for Freedom of Information CEO Einat Horowitz said, "It is disappointing that the PMO chose to once again not disclose to the public the expenses of the prime minister's residences in a transparent manner. It was fair to assume that, given a previous petition to the court on the matter, the PMO would publish the full details in a way that provides the public the possibility to examine the breakdown of the expenses."
The Movement for Freedom of Information said that a request was submitted to the PMO for receipts of payments and services rendered at the prime minister's homes they had not been shared with the group, which has pursued other legal avenues.
Exorbitant sums on 'soda and wine'
A look into the details of the "private" expenses in the Jerusalem and Caesarea homes shows that the prime minister and his wife spent tens of thousands of shekels on "cleaning services" and "maintenance work" along with "procurement and use of communications devices", as well as soda and wine.
The most peculiar sections to appear under the "private" use segment were "consultation of basement leaks" for which the pair paid NIS 4,514 and "water sewage repair" which cost the state NIS 10,000 because the state pays the maintenance expenses of the prime minister's private home.
The PMO said in response: "The Prime Minister's Office published the expense report of its own accord in May. The figures show that the annual expense for 2014 is the lowest in the last 5 years, showing a 19% decrease over the previous year. The data was published according to security directives."
Following the release of a harsh report by the State Comptroller on the issue, Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein ordered police a month ago to launch a criminal investigation into the residential expenses of previous years.
The person considered to be the prime suspect in the irregularities was deputy director-general in the PMO Eza Seidoff, who was responsible for personnel and payments.
Another suspect is the previously mentioned Pahima, who completed several jobs at the Caesarea home according to the State Comptroller, against a clear directive that he should not be employed there because he was a Likud member friendly with the Netanyahus.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 17, 2015
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