Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife Sara Netanyahu may be indicted for fraud for allegedly diverting state money for private expenses, Israel’s top prosecutor said. Charges against Sara Netanyahu will include using state funds for ordering dining and catering services, and later concealing the fact that she did so, local newspaper the Haaretz reported.
Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit will make a final decision after a pre-trial hearing, BBC reported. Sara Netanyahu is suspected of misusing 3,59,000 shekels (approximately Rs 63 lakh) of state funds to clear private catering bills, the report said.
Prosecutors say Sara Netanyahu and a senior official, Ezra Seidoff, claimed costs for food prepared externally and for hiring private chefs, between September 2010 and March 2013. The two allegedly did not reveal that the residence also employed a cook, the BBC reported.
Haaretz said both Sara Netanyahu and her husband have accused the former chief caretaker of the official residence, Meni Naftali, of inflating the residence’s expenses.
PM releases statement on Facebook
“Sara Netanyahu is a strong and honourable woman and there has never been any fault in her actions,” a statement on the prime minister’s Facebook page said.
“Not only did the prime minister’s wife not commit any offence, but the preoccupation with the food of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - who works around the clock for the state and its security - and with the food of his family, is a pathetic and obsessive one.”
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