State Comptroller: '45% of Netanyahu's trips abroad had outside finance'
According to a Channel 10 report, 45% of Netanyahu's trips as minister of finance were funded by a foreign entity or person; attorney general closed case on criminal investigation.
Benjamin Netanyahu served as the Minister of the Treasury from 2003-2005. According to the same report by the comptroller, "100 percent of the trips Netanyahu took while on the job had extra financing, meaning, there were surpluses of money from a variety of sources which funded other parts of the trips."
The report by Raviv Drucker also noted that Netanyahu's personal security detachment was financed by the Shin Bet as well as by the foreign officials who invited Netanyahu.
State Comptroller Yosef Shapira requested that Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit open a criminal investigation into the matter, but Mandelblit informed the comptroller several weeks ago that the case had been closed.
Drucker said, "A senior official in law enforcement told us that just because Mandelblit closed the case does not at all mean that the things outlined in the report were acceptable. Far from it, there were a lot of problems to say the least."
The report mentioned that Netanyahu was not questioned on these matters and the previous Attorney General, Yehuda Weinstein, also did not open an investigation into the matter.
The Ministry of Justice issued a response on the Channel 10 report, saying, "In regards to the claims of double financing on overseas flights, in light of new information received on this matter, those involved in the organization of the prime minister's flights have been investigated along with many documents from the relevant period. Even the current findings and new evidence that was collected do not warrant any further investigation."
The Prime Minister's Office also responded, saying, "There was no double financing and that is why the case was closed. This is a desperate attempt by Drucker to renew the case."
