Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein will decide by the beginning of next week whether to open a criminal investigation into matters relating to household expenses at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence.
In the next few days, the police will pass to the State Attorney the evidence it has gathered from former manager of the prime minister's residence Meni Naftali. A special team in the criminal department of the Attorney General's office led by Adv. Tamar Borenstein will examine the material and the rest of the evidence relating to the matter, including the State Comptroller's report regarding expenditure at the prime minister's residence, and the material on which it was based.
After the evidence has been thoroughly examined, the team will consult with State Attorney Shai Nitzan, after which a final opinion will be passed onto the Attorney General.
At the end of last week, Netanyahu hired the services of Ad. Jacob Weinroth. He has already sent a letter to the Attorney General with a range of reasons as to why there are no grounds for opening a criminal investigation on either bottle deposits or the purchase of garden furniture. Among other things, Weinroth cites the fact that empty bottle deposits are refunded by law to the person who collects the bottles, and because Sara Netanyahu collected the bottles, she is entitled to the deposits.
Other matters being investigated include the employment of electrician Avi Pachima from Or Akiva by Sara Netanyahu or her secretary at their private home in Caesarea. “IDF Radio" (Galei Zahal) reports that there are suspicions that Pachima undertook work at weekends and on Yom Kippur against an old debt that Netanyahu owed him.
A spokesman for the Netanyahus said, "This electrician has handled the home in Caesarea since it was built and even before the house was bought by the Netanyahus. He knows the electrical systems and infrastructures of the house better than anyone else and was therefore employed to deal with them. If there was a technical fault, he would be certain to repair it. The prime minister and his wife never stay in Caesarea during Yom Kippur and they certainly didn't order an electrician on that day."
Another affair being checked out is the bottle deposit refunds. Two years ago Benjamin and Sara Netanyahu returned NIS 4,000 to the State after Sara Netanyahu has kept the money from the deposits of empty bottles that had been returned, state property, that had been returned to grocery stores in Jerusalem. The State Comptroller's report had said there was "concern that this was a criminal act."
The State Comptroller had written similar things about the purchase of garden furniture by the Netanyahus, which was sent to their Caesarea home. After the matter was published, the garden furniture was brought back to the prime minister's Jerusalem residence.
The State Attorney is also checking claims of use of state employees for private needs by the Netanyahus and mixing private expenditure and public funds.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 22, 2015
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