Likud party officials are suspected of harassing Shlomo Filber, a state witness in one of the corruption cases against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reported Haaretz.
The Likud officials “questioned in recent days by the police’s anti-corruption unit” include Netanyahu and party spokesperson Jonathan Orich and Netanyahu media adviser, Ofer Golan, said the paper.
Netanyahu threat to news publisher caught on tape: "If you take me down, I’ll come after you with everything I’ve got… It will become my life’s mission.” The tape is part of the corruption case against Netanyahu. pic.twitter.com/ryd0v3GyoZ
— Jake Morphonios (@morphonios) October 26, 2019
According to Haaretz, “the investigation was opened following a complaint that during one of this year’s two election campaigns a car was parked outside Filber’s home.”
Then, using a loudspeaker, the car’s occupants allegedly called out to Filber to “come out” and “tell the truth”, along with “what did they do to you to make you lie against the prime minister? What did they promise you?” and “the left is using you to bring down Likud”.
#Breaking: The senior Likud officials who are suspected of harassing Shlomo Filber, former communications ministry official turned state's witness against Netanyahu, are *Likud campaign chairman & Netanyahu family spox Ofer Golan & Likud spox Yonatan Urich.* pic.twitter.com/dGbgC3iCHu
— Noga Tarnopolsky (@NTarnopolsky) October 27, 2019
The specific case is known as Case 4000, “in which Netanyahu is suspected of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust for taking steps that benefited Bezeq telecommunications shareholder Shaul Elovitch in return for favorable coverage on Bezeq’s Walla news site.”
Senior Likud officials suspected of harassing state witness in Netanyahu corruption case https://t.co/CutqdLT92G
— Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) October 27, 2019
Filber was Communications Ministry director-general under Netanyahu and “was arrested last year on suspicion of promoting Bezeq’s interests from within the ministry”, noted the paper.
Attorney Amit Hadad, acting on behalf of Golan, issued a statement rejecting the allegations.
Netanyahu himself also issued a statement, denouncing the claims as a “scandal” aimed at “neutralizing the prime minister’s ability to fight for public opinion as a flood of leaked investigation materials harms his close associates.”
(Middle East Monitor, PC, Social Media)
