Judge nixes plea deal with company accused in Netanyahu’s Case 4000
In a blow to the state prosecution, a judge on Tuesday refused to approve a plea bargain with Eurocom Holdings Ltd., which is involved in the ongoing corruption trial of former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Tel Aviv District Judge Michal Agmon-Gonen said that Eurocom should not sign a plea deal admitting wrongdoing when its previous owner, Shaul Elovitch, is still on trial and denies the suspicions against him.
Eurocom was originally founded by Elovitch in 1978 as a telephone manufacturing company, later controlling vast swaths of the Israeli media market, including Bezeq telecommunications, the Walla news site, and YES satellite TV.
According to the rejected deal, the company would have confessed to charges brought against it in two ongoing cases and paid a NIS 400,000 ($124,000) fine.
According to one indictment, these charges include receiving a bribe under aggravated circumstances, multiple fraud counts, and breach of trust.
The company is also accused of giving bribes and of money laundering through the actions of Elovitch, as part of Case 4000.
“The criminal responsibility of Eurocom stems from the criminal actions and mindset of Elovitch, who was a functionary in the company,” the indictment read.
Former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives at the District Court in Jerusalem, on March 23, 2022, for a hearing in his ongoing corruption trial. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
The plea bargain would have been the first in the ongoing case against Netanyahu.
Agmon-Gonen said that deliberations in Eurocom’s case will be postponed until next May at least.
Netanyahu is on trial in three corruption cases. He faces charges of fraud and breach of trust in Case 1000 and in Case 2000, and charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust in Case 4000. He denies wrongdoing and says the charges were fabricated in a political coup, led by the police and state prosecution.
Case 4000 is the most serious of the three cases against the former prime minister. Netanyahu is alleged to have advanced regulatory decisions as communications minister and prime minister that immensely benefited Elovitch, who was also the controlling shareholder in Bezeq, the country’s largest telecommunications firm, despite opposition from Communication Ministry officials. In exchange, he allegedly was given what amounted to editorial control over Elovitch’s Walla news site.
Elovitch and his wife have been charged with bribery in the case.