Netanyahu grilled again on fraud case

Israeli police yesterday arrived at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's home where media reports said they were to question him for an eighth time over allegations of fraud and bribery.

An AFP journalist saw police arriving at Netanyahu's official Jerusalem residence in two vehicles at around 9:00am (0700 GMT).

Police issued no official confirmation that questioning was under way.

Investigators were at the same time to take a statement from his wife Sara at national fraud squad headquarters near Tel Aviv, media said.

Nir Hefetz, a former media adviser to the Netanyahu family, and Shaul Elovitch, the controlling shareholder of telecoms group Bezeq, were among seven suspects arrested last week as fraud suspicions against Netanyahu snowballed.

Police suspect Elovitch was given business concessions in return for Netanyahu receiving good press on Walla!, a news website he owns.

In addition, Israeli army radio yesterday said that "a former senior communications ministry official close to the prime minister was detained this morning for questioning in the Bezeq affair."

Channel 10 News reported on Thursday evening that police have seen text conversations between Sara and Elovitch's wife Iris which strengthen suspicions that their husbands traded favours.

Public radio said on Friday that both were being questioned at fraud squad headquarters simultaneously with Sara but separately.

Police have now questioned the premier eight times since the beginning of 2017, and last month said there was sufficient evidence to charge him with graft, fraud and breach of trust in two other cases.