Three advisors of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be prosecuted, pending a hearing, for allegedly harassing a state witness in the PM’s ongoing corruption trial, the State Prosecutor’s Office said.
According to the office, Yonatan Orich, Ofer Golan, and Israel Einhorn harassed and attempted to intimidate Shlomo Filber, the former Director General of the Communications Ministry.
Filber, who was a close associate of Netanyahu, turned into a state witness in a corruption and bribery case against Netanyahu, dubbed “Case 4000”.
The three were suspected of sending a vehicle with a loudspeaker to Filber’s home and playing a recording that called on him to backtrack on signing his state witness deal and accused him of lying, Xinhua news agency reported.
The recording was also posted on social networks.
Under Israeli law, the maximum penalty for severe harassment of witnesses is five-year imprisonment.
The Israeli Prime Minister is standing trial on three separate cases of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust.
In “Case 4000,” Netanyahu is accused of providing regulatory and financial benefits to Shaul Elovitch, the former control-holder of Walla, a news site, and Bezeq, Israel’s largest telecom company, in exchange for favourable coverage on Walla. Netanyahu has denied the allegations.
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