Sara Netanyahu
Photo: Motti Kimchi
PM’s wife’s draft indictment highlights methods of fraudulence
Sara Netanyahu allegedly employed chefs to make dinner for the couple and their private guests at the cost of NIS 400-500 per diner, while concealing fact that cooks were employed at the residence. To bypass state procedures, PMO official Ezra Saidoff allegedly instructed invoices be forged to misrepresent number of guests.
A full draft indictment
against Sara Netanyahu reveals the systematic manner in which the prime minister's wife allegedly ordered private meals to the tune of NIS 359,000 in state funds, despite having cooks on hand at the official residence.
Mrs. Netanyahu and Mr. Saidoff "worked together to bypass rules and restrictions to fraudulently obtain funding for meals for Mrs. Netanyahu and her family at the public's expense. Mrs. Netanyahu did so while exploiting her status as the prime minister's wife," the draft indictment states.
The draft indictment will be filed pending a hearing, which is expected to be held in about two months.
Mrs. Netanyahu is suspected of ordering expensive food from restaurants and employing chefs on 11 different occasions to cook private meals for the Netanyahu family and their guests, while instructing residence workers not to tell PMO administrators cooks were in fact already employed in the residence.
Prime Minister Netanyahu with wife Sara at the UN General Assembly meeting in New York (Photo: AP)
Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit explained his decision to charge Mrs. Netanyahu with fraudulently obtaining benefits under aggravated circumstances, citing "the high sum, the planned, continuous and systematic nature of the actions, the nature of the misrepresentation, the fact the alleged offenses were committed in the Prime Minister's Residence, the high status of Mrs. Netanyahu and Mr. Ezra Saidoff, the fact they solicited other public officials to commit offenses, and the fact they misused public funds."
Mandelblit goes on to say that "State procedures determine the cooking and serving of food at the Prime Minister's Residence is done by residence employees. If there is no cook employed in the official residence, prepared food can be ordered from contractors and service providers. According to state procedures, the cost of a meal per individual must not exceed NIS 200, not including VAT.
"Moreover, the state may fund the economic expenses of private guests of the prime minister or his spouse, so long as the visit is not part of a social or family gathering that exceeds 20 people."
According to the draft indictment, Mrs. Netanyahu was heavily involved in the goings-on of the Prime Minister's Residence in Jerusalem, hiring and firing employees herself.
"The residence was managed according to the instructions and under the supervision of Mrs. Netanyahu. She selected the employees in the residence, and they were dismissed at her decision," the draft indictment reads. "Mrs. Netanyahu gave the residence employees many tasks and closely supervised that they were carried out. The residence employees were required to report to and receive approval from Mrs. Netanyahu to miss work."
The modus operandi
The draft indictment details how Mrs. Netanyahu compelled Ezra Saidoff, then a senior official in the Prime Minister's Office, to follow her instructions.
"Mrs. Netanyahu instructed Mr. Saidoff and the caretakers in the residence as to the goods and services she asks be provided to her by the PMO," the indictment reads.
"At times, when the goods and services were not provided, or provided not to her satisfaction, Mrs. Netanyahu urged Mr. Saidoff to obtain (these goods and services), even when Mr. Saidoff explained to her there was no justification for the PMO to pay for it. Eventually, Mr. Saidoff granted Mrs. Netanyahu's requests and had the goods or services unlawfully provided to her at the expense of the PMO."
Former PMO official Ezra Saidoff (Photo: Amit Shabi)
The draft indictment includes a list of the six cooks who were employed in the residence between April 2009 and April 2015, with some working there at the same time.
According to the attorney general, the cooks were hired with the explicit approval of Mrs. Netanyahu and "throughout the period in question, all meals were prepared at the residence by the cooks every day (with some exceptions) based on a menu and instructions given by Mrs. Netanyahu to the cook—either directly, through the caretaker or through her secretaries."
The attorney general also details the system Mrs. Netanyahu and Saidoff adopted to obtain state funding for the private meals, and points to the fact that it was done "as a matter of routine."
"In order to have the PMO bear the costs of the ordered meals and private chefs, despite the fact cooks were employed in the residence and in violation of procedures, Mr. Saidoff and Mrs. Netanyahu worked together to create the false impression that no cooks were being employed in the residence. They've done this knowing that is not the case and with the intention of defrauding the relevant officials in the PMO."
Mrs. Netanyahu also "instructed caretaker Meni Naftali and residence employee Meir Cohen not to disclose the fact there are cooks employed in the residence to those not working in the residence, to avoid the accounting and administration departments learning of the scheme. In line with this instruction, Naftali conveyed the message to other residence employees.
Meni Naftali, the former caretaker at the PM's residence (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)
"In one instance, when Mrs. Netanyahu learned Meni Naftali had written a memo to the PMO's accountant in which he mentioned the work of the residence's cook, she rebuked him and repeated the instruction not to disclose to PMO officials that there is a cook employed in the residence."
Chefs for private meals at taxpayers' expense
The draft indictment details "15 instances in which the Netanyahu family employed chefs to cook for private guests who were invited to the official residence. The chefs were employed at Mrs. Netanyahu's behest, despite the fact there was a cook employed in the residence."The private chefs charged an extravagent cost of NIS 400-500 per head, despite the NIS 200 cap.
Because of that, "Mr. Saidoff instructed the caretakers and Mrs. Netanyahu's secretaries to forge the invoices for these meals in a way that misrepresents the number of meals to be higher than provided... and at times by 'spreading out' the number of meals over several dates."
The draft indictment includes a table detailing most of these instances, including the date of the dinner, the chef who was hired, and the sum paid by the state. The guests invited by the Netanyahu couple are identified by initials only.
However, the attorney general noted there was no sufficient evidence to prove Mrs. Netanyahu was aware of the misrepresentation concerning the meals cooked by the chefs for private guests or of the forged invoices for these meals, meaning only Saidoff will face charges for these alleged offenses.
The draft indictment also details other cases against Mrs. Netanyahu that were eventually dropped due to insufficient evidence, noting they nevertheless showcase the same system in which the prime minister's wife allegedly used public property, resources and funds for her own benefit. This, Mandelblit notes, she did while allegedly soliciting the administrators in the PMO to commit offenses in an effort to conceal her own actions.
Mrs. Netanyahu's attorneys said in response, "What else is new? This is merely recycling things that were already published. We will provide our responses to the allegations to the attorney general. We are confident in the righteousness of our arguments."
When the attorney general first decided to file an indictment, Ezra Saidoff's legal representatives said he hopes the case will be dropped following the hearing. "Mr. Saidoff followed procedures and instructions the entire time, and there is no basis to the claim he benefitted in any way from the matters at hand. Saidoff worked at the PMO for 35 years under eight prime ministers and had done his job faithfully and with integrity," his lawyer said.
