LAWYERS REPRESENTING foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman have attended a hearing with the country’s attorney general in an effort to avoid an indictment on serious corruption charges, which may threaten the stability of Israel’s coalition.
The second day of the hearing will take place today and all the indications were that an indictment will be issued, although a final decision may take months.
Mr Lieberman faces allegations of fraud, breach of trust, money-laundering and obstruction of justice. If convicted, the controversial minister faces a maximum of 10 years in prison. Police suspect Mr Lieberman obtained up to $2 million from businessmen, which was funnelled through foreign bank accounts and foreign-based straw firms when he served as transport minister, national infrastructure minister and strategic affairs minister.
He is also suspected of having received an illegal tip-off from Israel’s ambassador to Belarus, Ze’ev Ben-Aryeh, in 2008, who showed Mr Lieberman classified documents allowing him to subvert the investigation process.
If indicted, Mr Lieberman would have to resign from the Knesset parliament but could theoretically continue to serve as head of the right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu party. However, Mr Lieberman has stated on several occasions that if the attorney general recommended an indictment he would temporarily resign from politics to fight to clear his name.
Political commentators have speculated on whether an indictment would start a political snowball resulting in the break-up of the coalition, even though Mr Lieberman has indicated that Yisrael Beiteinu will remain in the government.
Yisrael Beiteinu, which adopts a hard line on the peace process and Israel’s Arab minority, has 15 members in the 120-member Knesset parliament. It is the second-largest party in prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s predominantly right-wing and religious coalition. Mr Netanyahu is riding high in the polls and there is already speculation, with the elections almost two years away, that he may opt for a snap election later this year.
The allegations against Mr Lieberman surfaced over a decade ago. Officials said the case has dragged on due to the difficulty in investigating companies registered outside of Israel, including Cyprus and the Virgin Islands.
Judicial hearings are common for senior officials to offer them a chance to prevent an indictment being issued.