Sara Netanyahu charged with fraud

IN the space of five days, Sara Netanyahu has found herself indicted, and deep in controversy over embarrassing recordings about her that just became public.

The PM’s wife has been charged for fraud and breach of public trust for allegedly breaking rules governing what food can be bought for the official residence.

She is alleged to have improperly spent more than $100,000 on food for the residence between 2010 and 2013, falsifying documents to justify special catering when a chef was already on staff.

As Israelis were absorbing the fact that the PM’s wife is indicted, Israel Television News said that it had recordings of an attorney and a media adviser to the Netanyahus discussing various ways, some of them eccentric, in which Sara Netanyahu drains state funds.

She was said to have transported suitcases of clothes from Israel, where the state doesn’t cover dry cleaning, to hotels abroad during foreign trips, where it does. According to the transcripts Nir Hefetz and attorney Fargo Barnea discussed this conduct, as well as plans to renovate the private Netanyahu residence using public money.

According to transcripts Hefetz – who has since become a witness for the state in cases against the Netanyahus – talked about these issues and others, including the challenges raised by inflated expenses at the private Netanyahu residence.

There were “really big secrets there about the money”, Hefetz was quoted as saying.

The transcripts suggest that Netanyahu’s staff were engaged in various activities to keep the PM’s wife happy, including encouraging hotel staff in the US to give her cosmetics for her birthday, and cleaning air conditioning units.

An associate of Sara Netanyahu has been quoted rejecting the claims from the transcripts, and her lawyers called the indictment “absurd and delusional”.

NATHAN JEFFAY

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