It appears one battle for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has ended, albeit not in his favor, as the committee in the State Comptroller’s Office which decides if he may receive contributions to assist in funding his legal defense has ruled Mr. Netanyahu is on his own. The decision of the committee is final, as the committee feels accepting contributions to assist his funding his defense in a number of pending legal cases against him would lead to a conflict of interests. The committee has also ruled that Mr. Netanyahu must return $300,00 that he already received from a cousin, Nathan Milikowsky, as the money was accepted without committee approval.
The committee explained the request was rejected after the Prime Minister failed to meet the obligation as per the High Court of Justice. He must also return suits he received, or the cash equivalent, to close associate and prominent US businessman, Spencer Partrich, who Mr. Netanyahu was hoping would significantly finance his legal defense.
The case came before the High Court of Justice, which ruled the prime minister must provide the committee with his finances, including real estate and other holdings, which to date he refuses to do.
According to reports, Mr. Netanyahu already owes hundreds of thousands in legal costs to his previous attorney, who was not paid, attorney Navot Tel-Tzur. In the hope of bypassing the committee’s ruling, Mr. Netanyahu has applied for approval of a substantial business loan from Partrich, millions, to be returned on commercial terms.
While a decision is pending with the state comptroller, those in the know believe the permission for such a loan will be granted.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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3 Responses
This “decision” is pure wickedness, lawless, and Netanyahu ought to (but unfortunately won’t) defy it. It is a person’s fundamental, unalienable right, when he is in trouble, to use whatever resources are available to him to defend himself. To pile up charges against someone and then deprive them of the means to finance a defense is just indefensible. Legal charges are an occupational hazard for politicians, especially ones who attract powerful enemies; to fund their own defense is not only beyond many people’s means, but is likely to impoverish many more.
This is the same evil tactic that was used in Alaska to drive Sarah Palin out of office.
I remember when the “left” decided that there was no conflict of interests when leftist negotiators with Oslo and its clones had financial interests with the “PA”.
I couldn’t agree with Milhouse’s statement more. Indeed, I hate to sound conspiratorial — but this really looks like some sort of attempted coup to unseat Netanyahu. Bring up endless charges and then deny him the means of defending himself — all with the specter of jail time or financial ruin hanging over his head.
What’s worse than the fact that Netanyahu won’t defy this ruling is the my sense that the public will also simply go along with it (although I hope I end up pleasantly surprised).