Moshe Lion named Lieberman associate questioned on corruption
Former PMO director and Jerusalem mayoral candidate released on house arrest after being interrogated on suspicions of facilitating bribes in the Yisrael Beiteinu corruption scandal.
Moshe Lion, a former Jerusalem mayoral candidate, was named Sunday night as the associate of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman who was arrested on suspicions of facilitating bribes in the Yisrael Beiteinu corruption scandal.
Lion, who served in the past as the director of the Prime Minister's Office during Benajmin Netanyahu's first term in office, was released on five-days house arrest at the end of his interrogation.
Lion's media adviser, Amir Dan, said: "Moshe Lion was investigated during the day, and fully cooperated all throughout the interrogation. Investigators treated him with fairness and at the end of the interrogation Lion agreed to the investigators' request for a house arrest."
Lion was previously investigated when a contractor sued the Netanyahu couple for NIS 730,000, claiming they didn't pay him for packing up and moving them, while the couple countersued him for NIS 2 million in damages over the affair. At the time, police recommended to indict Lion on charges of fraudulently obtaining benefits, fraud and breach of trust, but the attorney general decided to close the case after the Netanyahu couple and the contractor settled.
So far, three of the suspects - out of over 30 - signed a deal to serve as state witnesses, agreeing to tell the whole truth and incriminate the rest of those involved.
Sources familiar with the investigation said that "many people are interested in cooperating with investigators, both to save their own skin and because they understand evidence against them are compelling."
As the Anti Fraud Unit has dug deeper into money transfers in the government's offices, they have begun to discover the exact method by which cash was moved to public entities, unions, and NGOs in exchange for kickbacks for Yisrael Beiteinu members and their associates. Because of the large number of arrests and the scope of the affair, the police required multiple state witnesses.
Meanwhile, it was revealed that just before the investigation went public, police succeeded in stopping the transfer of millions of shekels to the Ayalim Association. One of the state witnesses served as an undercover agent and documented the activities in person.
