Nir Hefetz, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's former media adviser, who was very close to the prime minister and his wife Sara Netanyahu, signed a state's witness agreement with the State Attorney's Office yesterday evening.
Hefetz, who was a confidant of the Netanyahus for a long period, is believed to have a great deal of information about their involvement in the various affairs under investigation, some of which has not yet been disclosed to the police.
If Hefetz, who himself is suspected of taking and offering bribes in Case 4000 (Bezeq) and Case 1270 (the alleged offer of the job of Attorney General to Judge Hila Gerstl in return for dropping charges against Sara Netanyahu), is the third Netanyahu associate to give evidence against him in the cases in which he is a suspect. His testimony is likely to assist the police and the State Attorney's Office in formulating a more solid evidential picture in all three cases in which Netanyahu is a suspect, and perhaps in other matters as well.
Netanyahu's former chief of staff Ari Harow is a state's witness in Case 1000 (gifts to Netanyahu from Arnon Milchan and others) and Case 3000 (submarines). Shlomo Filber, who was director general of the Ministry of Communications when Netanyahu was also serving as Minister of Communications, recently signed a state's witness agreement in Case 4000. Harow and Filber have already given detailed and apparently incriminating testimony against Netanyahu. Similar testimony from Hefetz could be the final blow to Netanyahu's chances of extricating himself from the suspicions against him.
A source close to the prime minister said in response, "When there's a case, you don't need even one state's witness. And when there isn't, even a thousand state's witnesses won't help. The incessant chase after state's witnesses is the best proof that there's nothing, and there won't be anything."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 5, 2018
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2018