Attorney General Dr. Avichai Mandelblit today (Tuesday) changed his mind about the amount of money Prime Minister Netanyahu received from his cousin Natan Malikowski, stating that it was a “forbidden gift.” Mandelblit’s remarks came following a petition by the Movement for Purity and the Movement for Quality. The government against receiving the money.
Protesters against Netanyahu in Balfour, Jerusalem. Photo: Komi Israel
On July 2, 2020, the Permits Committee ruled that out of the $ 300,000 Netanyahu received from his cousin Melikovsky, allegedly for the purpose of financing his wife Sarah Netanyahu’s lawsuit, he must return NIS 110,000, and the rest was indeed intended to fund a lawsuit. Mandelblit ruled in his response to the petition. Because in light of the relationship between Netanyahu and Malikowski, the Permits Committee did not have the authority to allow Netanyahu to receive the money.
In his response, the ombudsman states that there is no difference whether the recipient of the money is a public employee or his spouse, and that the public employee must refuse to receive it. , And the High Court must deliver its decision to the petition.
The Purity Movement welcomed the ombudsman’s response and said: “The Permits Committee has adopted a completely unreasonable interpretation of the provisions of the Rules of Prohibition and the Gifts Act, which have created, de facto, a conduit for transferring funds from capitalists to politicians, through relatives. Today, the Attorney General’s position was submitted to the Supreme Court, which states that as the Movement for the Purpose of Morality claimed in its petition, it is a prohibited gift whether given to the Prime Minister or to his wife, and therefore the Prime Minister must return the funds. We are pleased that the Attorney General has accepted our position on this matter and hope that the court will order the return of the funds by the Prime Minister once and for all, as it should have been done further. At the time of the committee’s decision. “
The Movement for the Quality of Government said: “This is a case of 5000 – a criminal investigation must be opened immediately. The prime minister was once again exposed in his corruption. And again we discovered that only an in-depth investigation floods the area. The same prime minister said he received money from a relative. A gift is forbidden without reporting. We are sorry that only two years after we first applied, the ombudsman receives our position, and yet it is better late than never. “We will continue to fight in the Supreme Court in order to open a criminal investigation into the case of receiving the prohibited gift, as well as the case of shares – both of which have today been proven to be part of one large case in which illicit funds are poured into the Israeli prime minister.”
In response to Mandelblit’s remarks, the Likud party said: “Is Mandelblit interfering in the election again? In the previous election, Mandelblit filed a tailor-made indictment against the prime minister, and in this election he is flaking his legal position, only because the cases he sewed against him are collapsing. There is no limit to the persecution and the hunt for the hunter in order to overthrow a strong prime minister from the right. “