Hadas Klein, a key witness in the corruption trial of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu testified Tuesday that her billionaire boss – Hollywood film producer Arnon Milchan – ordered her to deliver gifts of champagne, cigars, and expensive jewelry to the then-premier in a scandal at the center of Israel's political crisis.
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The expensive gifts lavished upon the former Israeli leader by wealthy friends are the subject of one of the three corruption cases against Netanyahu. He stands accused of fraud, breach of trust, and accepting bribes, charges he has denied and dismissed as part of an attempt to oust him from office.
Klein, Milchan's longtime assistant, told the Jerusalem District Court that she had been instructed to buy gifts for the prime minister and his wife so that Milchan could stay in the couple's good graces.
The ongoing trial – already in its second year – is addressing allegations that while in office, Netanyahu accepted gifts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from Milchan and Australian billionaire James Packer.
