Police question Netanyahu in case involving associates

Associated Press

JERUSALEM

Israeli police took testimony Tuesday from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as part of an investigation into a conflict-of-interest case involving a $2 billion purchase of German submarines and some of the Israeli leader’s closest associates.

Police were seen arriving at Netanyahu’s official residence and later confirmed in a statement they questioned Netanyahu for several hours in the case, in which he has not been named a suspect. It was the first time he was questioned in this specific case, they added.

Netanyahu was expected to be questioned as a suspect Tuesday in a separate corruption case involving the country’s telecom giant, Bezeq. Two Netanyahu confidants have been arrested on suspicion of promoting regulation worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the telecom company.

In return, Bezeq’s subsidiary news site, Walla, allegedly provided positive Netanyahu coverage. The confidants have turned state witnesses.

But police later said investigators had questioned Netanyahu only over the submarine affair.