State Comptroller says will publish Netanyahu's expenses report, but won't say when
Following delay in publication of Netanyahu's expenditure report, State Comptroller announces report to be released soon – but refrains from specifying exact date.
State Comptroller Joseph Shapira, who has recently come under criticism for his hesitant handling of the Sara Netanyahu bottle scandal and delay in the publication of the report on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence expenses, announced Saturday that he will soon release the report – but refrained from specifying an exact date. Therefore, as of now it is unclear whether the report will be published before the general elections on March 17.
According to a report published by Haaretz on Wednesday, the State Comptroller is postponing the publication of the report on Netanyahu's excessive spending at the request of the prime minister's lawyer. The report claimed that in May 2013, a year and a half ago, the State Comptroller had announced he would examine the expenses at Netanyahu residence, following complaints that came to his attention.
The complaints were related to reports on alleged excessive expenditures at Netanyahu's official residence on Balfur street in Jerusalem and the use of public funds for household expenses at the prime minister's family's private homes in Caesarea and Jerusalem. The State Comptroller has recently completed the report, after receiving Netanyahu's response on the matter, but has yet to publish it.
It was further reported that Netanyahu's lawyer, David Shimron, recently contacted the State Comptroller and asked him to delay publishing the report until after the elections.
A report issued by the State Comptroller said the report will soon be published: "In August 2014, a near-to-final draft on Netanyahu's residence expenses was sent to the prime minister and Attorney General. Hence, the Attorney General knows precisely what the state comptroller's office examined regarding this issue. In November, the legal adviser to the state comptroller sent a long and detailed letter regarding all the topics of the report."
The statement further said that "no promises were made" that the comptroller would postpone the release of the report.
Sources close to the comptroller said that he had planned from the outset to publish the report towards the end of February. However, an exact date was not specified and it is unclear whether the report will be released before the elections.
According to a report published earlier this week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's wife pocketed thousands of shekels in cash from deposits of bottles during the couple's second term in office, which began in 2009.
The report further claimed that in 2009 the Netanyahus had returned some $1000 to the state – which legally owned the empty bottles and thus the deposit as well – though the actual value of the cash is between $5,000-$6,000.
What pushed the relatively old story to the headlines was the testimony of a disgruntled former Prime Minister Residence employee who recently told courts that the amount the couple owed the state for the bottle deposits was thousands of shekels higher than the sum they.
According to Meni Naftali, the employee, Sara Netanyahu would send the bottles to recycling once every two weeks for 250 NIS – or NIS 6,000 a year – while the Netanyahu returned only $1,000 for 2009-2013 – or $250 per year – some $5,000 less than what they should have paid.
