Big development here.
This comes on the heels of the Israeli police recommending that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be indicted on corruption and bribery charges.
A Netanyahu confidant is turning state’s evidence against him and is cooperating with the Israeli police. Bibi is in serious trouble and it’s going to be difficult for him to spin this as a political witch hunt.
Shlomo Filber, a confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who was arrested by the police in an investigation into the ties of Israel’s telecom giant with government officials, reached a deal with the police late on Tuesday to turn state's evidence. According to the deal, Filber will incriminate Netanyahu in exchange for a lighter sentence.
Filber, the former director general of the Communications Ministry under Netanyahu, is suspected of granting financial benefits to Shaul Elovitch, the controlling shareholder of Bezeq, Israel's largest telecom company, on behalf of the prime minister. In return, police suspect Elovitch skewed coverage on the Walla news website he owns to favor Netanyahu and his wife, Sara.
As part of the agreement made late Tuesday night, Filber offered police a detailed account of everything he knows about Netanyahu's part in the so-called Case 4000, as well as others involved in the affair. According to the deal, Filber will not receive jail time.
Filber's testimony is likely to establish the nature of the compensation given by the prime minister for the slanted coverage he received on Walla.
In May 2015, two days after the swearing in of the government, Netanyahu ousted Communications Ministry Director General Avi Berger, and appointed Filber, who had been his confidant for years, to replace him.