Police investigators are wrapping up their bribery investigation into MK (Labor) Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and his son Yariv, and they will be recommending that the state prosecutor file criminal indictments against them.

According to the Channel 10 News report, police have found evidence to back allegations they accepted bribes and were engaged in money laundering.

Ben-Eliezer, a former IDF brigadier-general and former cabinet minister, is the elder statesman in the 19th Knesset. In February he will be 79.

There are reports that his legal team will make an issue of his declining health in the hope it may influence the prosecution not to indict him. Ben-Eliezer is suspected of receiving illegal funds to the tune of 1.4 million shekels towards purchasing a penthouse apartment. Police also found $600,000 in cash in a Jerusalem safety deposit box belonging to him, which he told investigators belonged to his son Yariv, who is a successful real estate dealer in the USA.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)