New allegations have surfaced against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's wife, Sara, in Case 4,000, Israeli media reported over the weekend.
Case 4,000 centers on potentially illicit dealings and conflict of interest involving Israeli telecom corporation Bezeq and the Walla news website, which Bezeq owns. The police allege that Bezeq controlling shareholder Shaul Elovitch ensured positive coverage by Walla for Netanyahu, in exchange for the prime minister promoting government regulation worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the company.
According to the reports, the prime minister's wife has recently been questioned on suspicion of fraud over the alleged employment of then-Netanyahu family spokesman Nir Hefetz without pay.
The police claim that Sara Netanyahu employed Hefetz without pay between 2014 and 2015, while misleading authorities.
Hefetz turned state's witness in the case. He told investigators that he was told by the Netanyahus' lawyer David Shimron – the prime minister's cousin – that the issue has been cleared by the Attorney General's Office, which ruled that during in the period on question, charitable donations would be made in lieu of Hefetz's wages – but no such donation was ever made.
A statement by the Netanyahu family dismissed the reports as "ridiculous," saying, "One can only hope that when the truth comes out, the media will report it and not bury it along with other fabricated stories. Here, too, there is nothing to these allegations."
