Prime Minister's Office: Beverage expenses double what we claimed
PMO says it spent NIS 89,000 on beverages in 2009-10, double the amount it claimed earlier.
The PMO said it had arrived at the new figure after an additional examination of its accounting records. It said the disparity between the amounts stemmed from the fact that one of the suppliers used two different VAT registration numbers in 2010.
Additionally, it said, because the figures for 2010 were logged under an old system no longer in use, the difference was not discovered by the initial examination that took place over the weekend.
The PMO also said that based on the receipts examined on Sunday, the amount spent on wine in 2009-2010 was less than half of the total amount. Ehud Olmert was prime minister during the first three months of 2009, meaning the numbers include his expenses.
Regarding the years 2013-2014, the PMO said Saturday that the accountant's calculations showed the purchase of the equivalent of a bottle of wine a day.The PMO did not provide figures for wine and beverage expenses for 2011-2014.
It added that the average for 2009 and 2010 should not be used to estimate expenses for 2011-2014 – which would have equaled NIS 176,000 over four years – but did not provide any figures for those years.
Documents on the Accountant General's website suggest that the PMO spent about NIS 100,000 on wine and beverages between June 2009 and December 2012.
A Channel 2 report last week claimed that the Netanyahu family had spent NIS 100,000 on drinks over the last two years.
Hatnua Chairwoman MK Tzipi Livni responded Saturday to the claim, saying that "the price of alcohol that Netanyahu drinks a month is like the monthly salary of almost a million workers in Israel.
"As of last November, according to national insurance figures, the minimum wage was NIS 4,300. This week, it was revealed that Netanyahu spent NIS 100,000 of the public's money on alcohol over two years. That's NIS 4,200 a month," she added.
