Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara are continuing to try and conceal the expenses of the prime minister's residence by refusing to hand over invoices to the Movement for Freedom of Information, which insists this is violating a ruling by the Jerusalem District Court in January 2016. This latest development follows yesterday's revelation that Israel Police had completed its investigation into the prime minister's residence expenses and had passed the case onto the State Attorney with a recommendation to indict Sara Netanyahu for fraud.
Netanyahu for his part claims that he is not handing over the invoices to the Movement for Freedom of Information because, "during the task of gathering the invoices, he realized that they included details about the prime minister and his family, which would harm them if handed over."
The Movement for Freedom of Information has been campaigning for many years to reveal the expenses of the prime minister's residence. Following a petition by the Movement in 2013, the expenses have been published by only with a general summary. In July 2015, the Movement appealed that in addition to the table with a general summary that was sent by the Prime Minister's Office, to receive more detailed and authentic information about the expenses of the prime minister's residence including invoices for expenses that were paid for by the public.
On January 27 2016, Judge Yigal Marzel of the Jerusalem District Court ruled that following agreement between the parties, "The Prime Minister's Office is unequivocally committed to hand to the Movement for Freedom of Information the information that it has requested, that is to say, copies of the original invoices (of the residence's expenses) with exceptions according to the restrictions that the petitioner has agreed to."
The prime minister was given 90 days to comply but has yet to do so. On April 20 Netanyahu said that he had contacted the State Attorney Dr. Avichai Mandelblit to delay handing over the information because it included invoices for private purposes and would violate the privacy of the Prime Minister and his family.
Judge Marzel has set June 15 for a hearing on the matter.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 30, 2016
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