Elovitch (L) and Netanyahu
Photo: Yuval Chen, EPA
Police aim to question Netanyahu under warning next week
Intent on questioning the prime minister on his alleged involvement in Case 4000 before his planned trip to the US, police detectives in charge of the case are negotiating with his office to schedule an inquiry next week.
The police are in contact with the Prime Minister's Office in an effort to bring Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for questioning under warning in the Bezeq affair (also known as Case 4000), as well as to take his testimony in the submarines affair (also known as Case 3000).
Investigators are attempting to schedule the questioning prior to Netanyahu's planned trip to the United States next week.
PM Netanyahu (Photo: AFP)
Meanwhile, detectives in charge of Case 4000 are preparing to force Communications Ministry director-general and state's witness Shlomo Filber to confront Bezeq majority shareholder Shaul Elovitch and former Bezeq strategic advisor Eli Kamir.
Over the weekend, ISA investigators worked alongside Lahav investigators to prepare the ground for such a procedure.
In addition, Walla! News members and Bezeq officials allegedly involved in the affair are expected to give testimony on the case, as investigators attempt to discern whether they knew about the alleged pressure exerted by Elovitch on the site for more favorable coverage of Netanyahu and his family.
State's witness Filber (Photo: Motti Kimchi)
On Friday, Channel 2 News reported that Walla! News CEO Ilan Yeshua has told police that Bezeq majority shareholder Shaul Elovitch "looks nice and smiley, but the Elovitch family is a crime family."
Yeshua provided investigators with recordings of some of his conversations with Elovitch, in which the Bezeq owner is heard pressing him for changes in coverage of the Netanyahu family. These recordings led to a breakthrough in the case.
"Elovitch said he wanted to make Walla! News a national-right website. That is a lie. At times there were instructions to attack Naftali Bennett, demands to really go after Bennett hard. It was allowed to write things against the right wing and Likud ministers and Lieberman and everyone else. Just not against Bibi, Sara and son Yair," Yeshua said, referring to the prime minister by his nickname.
