A day after becoming a state's witness in the corruption probe known as Case 4,000, suspended Communications Ministry Director General Shlomo Filber shared with his associates incriminating information on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"I carried out direct orders from the prime minister," Filber reportedly said. "I had zero wiggle room, I got detailed instructions, and he told me whom I should treat nicely and how it should be done."
Filber is one of the prime suspects in Case 4,000, which centers on potentially illicit dealings and conflict of interest involving Israeli telecom corporation Bezeq and the Walla news website, which Bezeq owns.
Filber has been arrested along with Bezeq controlling shareholder Shaul Elovitch, Elovitch's wife Iris, his son Or and other top Bezeq executives, on suspicion that Elovitch provided positive coverage of the Netanyahu family on the popular news site, Walla, in exchange for the prime minister promoting government regulation worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the company.
Filber was arrested earlier this week. He was expected to face charges of fraud under aggravated circumstances, violations of the Prohibition of Money Laundering Law and the Securities Law, fraud and breach of trust as well as bribery. Such crimes normally carry lengthy prison sentences, but under the terms of the state's witness deal, Filber is expected to serve no jail time.
In conversations with his associates, Filber also elaborated on how Netanyahu, who, in addition to being prime minister also held the Communications Ministry portfolio until a year ago, allegedly pressured him to share sensitive information with Bezeq.
"I sent Bezeq drafts [of proposed regulation] and they submitted the changes they wanted and I followed through," he said.
Filber told his friends that he had no qualms about turning state's witness even though he "appreciates the prime minister." He added that the final straw was when Case 4,000 was upgraded from an Israel Securities Authority inquiry into a full-fledged criminal probe overseen by the Israel Police.
"I thought my actions were related to Bezeq, but then I realized that everything was actually meant to impact the Walla news site [owned by Bezeq]. Up until that moment, I was not aware of all this, but then I realized that I was being manipulated."
"I realized that my actions were meant to please someone," he continued, "and that I had no room to exercise any judgement of my own. When the police showed me how this was all related to Walla, and the help Netanyahu gave Elovitch, I realized that I had been blind to reality. This is not what I believed; why should I have to pay a price, when others raked in millions?"
Filbers' associates said he broke out in tears when he finally signed the agreement. "He feels that he now has a new lease on life, that he made the right decision and that there is no turning back, " one of them said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement Wednesday dismissing Filber's accusations. "This is all made up, it never happened,"the statement read.
