What are the corruption charges that former Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu is facing?

Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on Tuesday, appeared in the court for the first time in over half a year as Nir Hefetz - once his confidante - prepared to take a stand against him in a high profile corruption case. However, opposition from his lawyers delayed the case until next week. The Tel Aviv born lawmaker, who has served 15 years in Israel's Prime Ministerial office, has been accused of corruption, bribery, fraud and more.

What are the cases against Netanyahu?

The trial against Netanyahu is one of the biggest in the country’s history. The right-winger has been accused of accepting bribes, fraud and breach of trust in three discreet cases. The first case (Case 1000), according to Associated Press, involves the Likud leader accepting opulent gifts from his wealthy friends namely businessmen Arnon Milchan and James Packer. A discreet report by BBC estimates the value of the goods received by Netanyahu and his wife as roughly 700,000 shekels ($198,000; £162,000).

The second case (Case 2000) involves the ex-Prime Minister promising the passage of certain legislation to an Israeli businessman Arnon Mozes - who is the controlling shareholder of Yedioth Ahronoth media group, which publishes a leading Israeli newspaper. If passed, the law could have limited the circulation of Israel Hayom, a free daily published in Hebrew.  = According to multiple reports, Netanyahu was promised positive coverage in the Mozes’ owned newspaper but the aforementioned law never got Knesset’s vote. According to the lawsuit, Mozes and Netanyahu conducted three series of meetings between 2008 and 2014.

The third case (Case 4000) entails the 72-year-old of what prosecutors have labelled as “reciprocal favours” between Netanyahu and Shaul Elovitch, the controlling shareholder of Israeli telecom giant Bezeq. During his tenure, Netanyahu passed million-dollar legislation in his favour in return for positive coverage on Bezeq affiliated news website Walla.

The trial opened in May 2019

The Israeli leader’s trial formally opened in May 2019 at a Jerusalem district court where he denied the bribery, fraud and breach of trust charges against him. Netanyahu, notably, is the first-ever Israeli Prime Minister to go under trial while serving a term. Notably, in the last days of his tenure, public outrage against him intensified, fuelled by his bad handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Image: AP 

(With inputs from AP)