Danino: There is scope for police probe into Netanyahu's conduct
Police chief's comments come after lengthy testimony by former housekeeper Meni Naftali, who claimed state paid for private domestic help, expenses for entertaining guests were falsely inflated.
Israel Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino believes that there is room to open a formal police examination into the prime minister's conduct, in the wake of apparently damning testimony by a former housekeeper.
Danino's comments follow a 12-hour testimony to police by Meni Naftali that Benjamin and Sara Netanyahu used state funds to pay for private domestic help, took furniture purchased for the official residence and significantly inflated expenses for guests.
"On the face of it, there is scope to look into the matter," Danino said Sunday at a police ceremony in Jerusalem. However, Danino said, Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein should be given room to "weigh all the material, including that received from the state comptroller."
Related articles:
- Netanyahu attorney refutes comptroller's report
- Netanyahu's electability suffers blow after damning report
- Comptroller: Netanyahu family spending raises criminal concerns
"We gathered Naftali's testimony over many hours," Danino said. "The material was to be handed this morning to the attorney general, and there it will have to be reviewed, and checked what has been added to the material that we received from the state comptroller. It is difficult to assess (it) without seeing the material from the comptroller. The attorney general will have to make a decision."
Asked about Naftali's testimony, the police chief said: "Ultimately, calling it an examination or investigation is from our perspective the same thing, as a large proportion of investigations begin as examinations. On the face of it, there is scope for an examination, but the attorney general will have to decide."
Meni Naftali spent 12 hours Thursday afternoon and Friday morning at the National Fraud Investigations Unit, detailing events during his time in service for the Netanyahus.
Naftali, who has been granted immunity from prosecution, outlined the couple's conduct in the official residence, as well as tasks he was required to perform, which he claims are prima facie evidence of criminal offenses committed in the prime minister's official residence.
"There is no escaping a criminal investigation of the prime minister's conduct," senior legal sources said Saturday, adding that that at the very least, the deputy director of the Prime Minister's Office, Ezra Seidoff, should be called in for questioning under caution.
In his testimony, Naftali claimed that over the years were a series of requests for and use of state money for the private needs of the Netanyahu family. He cited the example of a member of the domestic staff at the prime minister's residence who had cared for Sara Netanyahu's father for many years. The woman's salary came to NIS 10,000 per month, and was paid for as part of the cleaning expense account for the prime minister's residence.
It was only much later, Naftali said, that the prime minister's staff concluded that this was payment problematic, after which the Netanyahu family paid the salary privately.
Furthermore, Naftali claimed, there was a system of inflating expenses for guests of the Netanyahu family at the prime minister's residence. The former house manager said there was a certain budget for hosting Israeli officials and another, almost double, for entertaining foreign guests. He said that in many cases the number of guests and their nationalities were exaggerated, ensuring artificially higher reimbursement from the state. For example, he said, if Netanyahu had hosted four guests, it was reported that there had been ten. On other occasions, Naftali said, visitors were declared as foreign officials although in reality they were guests from Israel.
Naftali also told investigators that Sara Netanyahu asked him to take care of cleaning supplies and equipment for their private home in Caesarea. He said that, as with garden furniture that had been moved to the private residence, he was required to do something similar with outside heating equipment, wine glasses and candles - he bought them and took them himself to the Netanyahu family home in Caesarea.
Eli Senyor contributed to this report.
