Israeli PM Netanyahu's corruption trial set to open
India TV NewsIsrael's longest-serving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces the ignominy of becoming the first sitting premier of the country to go on trial for corruption on Sunday, days after he returned to power following months of political deadlock. According to the indictment, at a series of meetings between Netanyahu and the newspaper's publisher, Arnon Mozes, the two men allegedly discussed a deal calling for the prime minister to try to limit the circulation of rival newspaper, Israel Hayom, which is owned by Netanyahu's longtime political patron, Sheldon Adelson. Case 4000 alleges that Netanyahu made decisions benefiting media mogul Shaul Elovitch, the controlling shareholder of Bezeq, Israel’s largest telecommunications company, in exchange for positive coverage on Walla News, a news portal owned by Elovitch. Netanyahu and Elovitch allegedly engaged in a quid pro quo in which the prime minister, who was serving as communications minister at the time of the alleged deal, led regulatory steps directly tied to Elovitch’s businesses and interests that yielded the tycoon some USD 500 million.