Lieberman: I’m being persecuted
Yisrael Beiteinu chairman criticizes Justice Ministry for being a ‘serial suspect’ since 1996. Claims investigations were held in violation of rules, to hinder his eligibility for premiership
Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman criticized the Justice Ministry on Monday for being a ‘serial suspect’ since 1996. Claims investigation were held in violation of rules, as if to hinder his eligibility for premiership
“I’ve been a ‘serial suspect’ and a ‘favorite’ of the Investigations and Prosecutions Branch since 1996. The investigations were held in violation of rules, in persecution by blackmail and threats of those around me” - Lieberman said in a press conference he held in Beit Sokoloff in Tel Aviv.
Lieberman added that “the police have no excuse to drag out the investigation. Ten years is enough time to serve an indictment. If they can’t so that – they should close the case.” Lieberman said he will ask Attorney General Menachem Mazuz to end the investigation and if that doesn’t suffice, he will approach the High Court.”
Lieberman also said he heard one of the investigators say that the police wanted to arrest him so that he would not be eligible for premiership. If that turns out to be true, Lieberman vows he will approach Mazuz and ask him to disqualify that investigation team: “I will not be a subject of targeted killing or a politician on probation.”
Lieberman at Tel-Aviv press conference (Photo: Yaron Brener)
Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter said in response that he is backing up the police’s Investigations and Prosecutions Branch and is certain that the branch’s heads and investigators are conducting a professional investigation. “If MK Lieberman has any concrete complains, I’m sure he knows where to direct them.”
No Indictment in Sight
The Tel Aviv District Court postponed Lieberman’s appeal a month ago, allowing the police to use materials found in Lieberman’s Attorney’s office. The decision said: “an alarming scenario indicates alleged involvement of the MK, his daughter and his attorney Yoav Meni in acts that are beyond criminal.”
The former minister’s daughter, Michal Lieberman, was taken for questioning last January by the National Fraud Unit in Bat Yam. The investigation has taken a new turn recently, when police investigators discovered bank accounts under her name in Israel and abroad.
According to police estimations, hundreds of thousands of Shekels were transferred to those accounts. According to suspicions, those were bribery monies Lieberman the father had received from businessmen.
In 1999, the state comptroller published a report indicating infractions violating the Funds for Election Propaganda Law on behalf of Yisrael Beiteinu. Following the report, an investigation was opened in February 2001, in which Lieberman himself was questioned.
In 2005, the police handed over the case to the State Prosecutor's Office for review and decision making purposes, but just then, additional material arrived – some of it from legal investigation held abroad – and the Attorney General instructed the police to reopen the case. The investigation was renewed in April 2006.
“This case involves legal investigation procedures from various countries,” the Justice Ministry reported, adding that “as such, these procedures take longer and are not in the Ministry’s control.”
Last April, Lieberman was interviewed under caution at the National Fraud Unit as suspected of receiving bribery from tycoon Martin Schlaf, who was a prominent figure in the Cyril Keren affair and the funds allegedly transferred to the Sharon family. Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman is also suspected of receiving unreported funds through his fictitious bank accounts in Cyprus.
