Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trial is starting with the reading of the indictment against him.
The document formally charges him with fraud, breach of trust and bribery in three separate corruption cases – known as Cases 1000, 2000 and 4000. Here is a summary of what these cases entail:
CASE 1000
Netanyahu is accused of having received gifts from billionaires in exchange for his assistance in business and personal areas.
He and his wife, Sara, allegedly received a “steady supply of” boxes of expensive cigars and Champagne, as well as other gifts worth a total of 690,000 Israeli shekels ($A299,000) between October 2011 and December 2016 from Israeli film producer Arnon Milchan and Australian businessman James Packer. In return, among other things, Netanyahu is suspected of having intervened in favour of an extension of Milchan’s tax exemption, as well as arranging a US visa for him.
CASE 2000
Netanyahu is accused of having negotiated a deal with the publisher of a critical newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, to improve its coverage of him in exchange for weakening a pro-Netanyahu paper, Israel Hayom.
The case concerns alleged discussions between Netanyahu and the publisher of Yediot Ahronoth, Arnon Mozes, about weakening the free, high-circulation Israel Hayom newspaper, which is owned by Sheldon Adelson and considered to be Netanyahu’s mouthpiece.
CASE 4000
This is viewed as the most serious of the cases in which Netanyahu is a suspect. Netanyahu allegedly ordered favourable rulings for the country’s largest telecommunications firm, Bezeq, in exchange for positive coverage on the news site Walla, which was owned by Bezeq’s former controlling shareholder Shaul Elovitch.
While prime minister, Netanyahu also served as communications minister, a post he relinquished amid the investigation into Case 4000 in 2017.
Read the article in The Australian (Deutsche Press Agentur).