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Photo: Reuters
Sara Netanyahu
Photo: Reuters

'Sara Netanyahu willing to pay NIS 50,000 fine to avoid charges'

Channel 2 reports details from meeting between the PM's wife's legal team and AG Mandelblit, as Mrs. Netanyahu's lawyers try to reach settlement to avoid an indictment against her in the so-called 'residences affair.'

Sara Netanyahu, the prime minister's wife, has reportedly offered to pay the state NIS 50,000 at most as part of a settlement to avoid being indicted in the so-called "residences affair," Channel 2 reported on Friday evening.

 

 

Mrs. Netanyahu's legal team reportedly made the offer to Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit and State Attorney Shai Nitzan during a meeting on Wednesday.

 

Sara Netanyahu is suspected of ordering private meals worth tens of thousands of shekels a month from high-end restaurants with the state footing the bill, according to a draft of an indictment set to be filed against her.

 

Sara Netanyahu (Photo: MCT)
Sara Netanyahu (Photo: MCT)
 

 

Mrs. Netanyahu is facing charges of fraudulently obtaining benefits under aggravated circumstances, fraud and breach of trust.

 

Channel 2 journalist Amnon Abramovich reported details from the meeting.

 

 

Later, Mrs. Netanyahu's attorneys complained to Mandelblit and Nitzan that information from the meeting was being leaked online. "Things that were said here are already out there, in the media," they said.

 

"This is wrong, I'm asking everyone not to leak," Mandelblit said in response.

 

Until the attorney general reaches a decision on whether to indict the premier's wife, both parties will attempt to bring the investigation into her alleged impropriety surrounding her conduct at the prime minister's official residence to an end, with an admission to most of the details in the draft indictment and a sizeable fine paid to the state's coffers. However, Mrs. Netanyahu will not accept responsibility for the offenses.

 

Attorney General avichai Mandelblit (Photo: EPA)
Attorney General avichai Mandelblit (Photo: EPA)

 

According to Mrs. Netanyahu's defense team, she had "no awareness she may have been committing criminal offenses." She had placed her trust with the finance and administration officials of the Prime Minister's Residence and Prime Minister's Office, they claimed, and did not delve deeply into the details of how her orders were being carried out.

 

It is for that reason, they argued, that she had committed no offenses and did not encourage anyone to commit them a crime. In addition, since Mrs. Netanyahu is not a public servant, she was not aware of the regulations limiting her in ordering meals from restaurants and chefs, they claimed.

 

Lastly, Netanyahu's attorneys claimed that since she was not a public servant, Mrs. Netanyahu could not be charged with fraud and breach of trust.

 

According to the indictment, from the beginning of September 2010 at the latest and until March 2013, Sara Netanyahu acted in conjunction with former deputy director-general of the Prime Minister's Office Ezra Saidoff to create a false impression according to which no cook was employed at the prime minister's official residence in Jerusalem.

 

Ezra Saidoff (Photo: Motti Kimchi)
Ezra Saidoff (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

 

The pair allegedly colluded to circumvent regulations that stated that if no cook was employed at the official residence, "prepared cooked food could be ordered to the residence according to need."

 

In so doing, the pair supposedly sought to obtain state financing both for employing the cooks working at the residence and for ordering ready-made meals and chefs to cook at the residence.

 

Funding for hundreds of meals from chefs and restaurants was thus allegedly obtained, costing the public NIS 359,000.

 


פרסום ראשון: 05.05.18, 11:06
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