It first appeared that Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman would face a criminal indictment that involved accepting classified documents from Israel Ambassador to Belarus Ze’ev Ben-Aryeh. Such an indictment would include charges of fraud and breach of trust.

The state prosecutor is now planning to summon Lieberman again for questioning sometime this week after learning that a member of the appointments committee admitted that Lieberman pushed for the appointment of Ben-Aryeh to the post of ambassador to Latvia. The state signals that if this is the case, Lieberman’s involvement in the appointment may have exceeded what was believed when the original indictment was being prepared and as such, that indictment which was not filed will be trashed and a more serious one filed against Lieberman.

Ben-Aryeh served as ambassador to Belarus from 2004-2009. The two met in 2008, and the state now believes that after becoming acquainted and receiving the papers from Ben-Aryeh, Lieberman exerted his influence to have Ben-Aryeh appointed as ambassador to Latvia and this is the crux of the new case. Investigators handling the case will also be interviewing members of the appointments committee as the state seeks to bring a more serious indictment against Lieberman.

Amid the impending [less serious] indictment announced earlier in December, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman resigned and told reporters he was taking a “leave of absence,” confident of his innocence and that he would return to office.

Channel 2 News reported on Monday morning 11 Teves 5773 that a more serious indictment against Lieberman appears increasingly likely as the state signals it has succeeded in gathering additional evidence against him.

It appears if the state can prove its case of increased involvement by foreign minister, the charges will move from fraud to accepting a bribe. The state is trying to build its case around the fact that Ben-Aryeh passed Lieberman classified documents to assist him in an ongoing police investigation against him. Later on, Lieberman ‘paid him back’ by pushing for his appointment as the ambassador to Latvia. Supporters of Lieberman explain that after over 12 years of investigations against Lieberman, it is clear that the state is involved in a politically motivated fishing expedition, pointing out the so-called major case against him that occupied police investigators for over a decade was closed due to lack of evidence.

Needless to say Lieberman responded with outrage over what he feels is a witch hunt against him for so many years, explaining that authorities failed to build a case against him so once again they are trying to piece together something to bring him down.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)