Netanyahu’s pre-indictment hearing over corruption cases begin in Jerusalem

• Israel’s attorney general has recommended charging Netanyahu in bribery, corruption, breach of trust and fraud charges.
• Israeli PM seeks to prolong his tenure amid controversies by making a government with his opponents.
• It could take several weeks for the attorney general to render his final decision.

(Karachi) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s long-awaited pre-indictment hearing over corruption charges began in Jerusalem on Wednesday. Netanyahu could face fraud and breach of trust charges in three separate cases.

Israel’s attorney general has recommended charging Netanyahu in bribery, corruption, breach of trust and fraud charges in the said cases. The Israeli prime minister has denied the charges leveled against him and said that he has been a target of media trial which wants to oust him from his office.

The allegations against him include suspicions that he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars of champagne and cigars from billionaire friends, offered a critical publisher legislation that would weaken his paper's main rival in return for softer treatment and allegedly used his influence to help a wealthy telecom magnate in exchange for favorable coverage on a popular news site.

The Israeli PM seeks to prolong his tenure amid controversies by making a government with his opponents, including the centrist Blue and White party. However, the White party has refused to become Netanyahu’s ally due to the serious crimes and corruption charges.

Netanyahu has long promised he'd clear his name in the hearing. A team of his lawyers arrived at the Justice Ministry in Jerusalem to argue that all charges should be dropped.

“We are going to present not only the evidence everyone is aware of but also new evidence. We are sure that once we present our findings there will be no choice but to close the case,” Netanyahu’s attorney Amit Haddad said.

“We believe and know that at the end of the day all the three cases must be closed,” he added.

The sessions are expected to extend over four days. It could take several weeks for the attorney general to render his final decision. However, legal experts say the likelihood of an indictment is very high given the mountains of evidence collected by police over years of investigations and the prosecution's seeming consensus of pursuing a trial.