Israel's Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced this afternoon that, "an indictment was filed a short time ago to the secretary of the Jerusalem District Court, as required by law." The case number against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is "67104-01-20 the State of Israel versus Netanyahu."
The formal filing of the indictment comes after Netanyahu announced this morning in a Facebook post that he is withdrawing his request for Knesset immunity.
Netanyahu's announcement about the withdrawal of the immunity request came minutes before the Knesset plenum was due to convene to set up a Knesset House Committee to discuss his request.
It can be assumed that Netanyahu's trial will not begin before the elections on March 2.
Netanyahu has been indicted for corruption in three cases - fraud and breach of trust in Cases 1000 and 2000 (gifts from Arnon Milchan and seeking positive coverage from Yediot Ahronot in exchange for legislation harming free newspapers) and fraud, breach of trust and bribery in Case 4000 (positive coverage in Walla! in exchange for favorable regulation for Bezeq).
This is the first time that a serving Israeli prime minister is being indicted.
In his Facebook post this morning, Netanyahu said, "This is the continuation of obsessive personal persecution by the "Only not Bibi" people.
Even after the decision to indict him, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denies the charges against him, has not been convicted of any crime, and is entitled to the presumption of innocence.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on January 28, 2020
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