Police arrested Jonatan Urich and Eli Feldstein, top aides to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as suspects in the so-called Qatargate scandal on Monday, just as the attorney general ordered the police to summon the premier for testimony in the ongoing probe.
The prime minister’s motorcade arrived at his office early Monday evening, where he was questioned by investigators in the police’s Lahav 433 major crimes unit.
Netanyahu left the Tel Aviv District Court Monday morning, cutting short his criminal trial on corruption charges, to give testimony regarding the alleged unlawful financial ties between his senior staffers and Qatar.
According to a source in Lahav 433 quoted by the Kan public broadcaster, police “gave the prime minister the option of coming to give open testimony [either] today or on another day, but he chose to come today and stop the hearing of his case in court.”
According to a Channel 12 report from before the testimony, the prime minister was to be questioned as someone with knowledge of the affair, rather than as a suspect. The decision as to whether to subsequently question Netanyahu under caution, meaning as a suspect in the case, would be made following his open testimony.
Source: Israeli media
