Israel Police questioned the World Jewish Congress president Ronald Lauder in connection with a fraud investigation into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara.
Lauder was called by the special investigations unit Lahav 433 of the Israel Police to give testimony shortly after attending the funeral of former Israeli president Shimon Peres on Friday,
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According to Israel’s Channel 2 reports, Lauder said he would cooperate with the police investigation.
Ynet News said that since the process is currently a preliminary inquiry as opposed to a full criminal investigation, police cannot go abroad to question people who may be involved. Therefore, the police waited until Lauder happened to be in the country before questioning him.
Lauder and the Netanyahus are reportedly close friends, and Lauder has hosted the Netanyahus on several occasions.
Netanyahu previously has denied any misbehavior.
Former chief of staff of Netanyahu, Ari Harow in July was held under house arrest in Israel for a week in connection with the investigation. Harow had been detained for questioning at Ben Gurion Airport and questioned for 14 hours in connection with suspected financial violations, JTA reports.
In an interview given to Israeli Bar Association journal Orech Hadin, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit said “The inquiry is still ongoing, there are still actions that need to be taken by the police, in conjunction with the permissions I handed out – and that’s the reason the case’s final materials has not yet been given to me and is not on my table, awating a decision, ” Mandelblit continued.
