Any plea deal with Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu must include a "moral turpitude" clause, Deputy State Prosecutor Shlomo Lemberger said on Thursday.
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His comment was the first time an official from the State Attorney's Office had discussed the matter publicly.
"It's inconceivable that such an indictment, or whatever is left of it after everything is taken out, would be left without moral turpitude. Anyone who understands turpitude and anyone who has ever dealt with the turpitude clause, understands it would be completely unacceptable that such acts wouldn't entail turpitude. I didn't say he [Netanyahu] deserves turpitude, I said that if he is convicted or that in terms of any indictment or watered-down indictment – it's inconceivable that it wouldn't include turpitude," Lemberger said at a conference in Eilat.
Netanyahu discussed the parameters of a potential plea bargain with his legal team on Thursday. Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit recently demanded that as part of a plea, the former prime minister perform community service between six and nine months.
Netanyahu's legal team has determined that any prospect of a plea deal with Mendelblit in office was "exceedingly low." Officials in the State Attorney's Office have also deemed that the slim chances for a plea deal had all but dissipated.
A moral turpitude clause in any plea agreement would prohibit Netanyahu from even running for public office again and essentially end his political career.
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