The Prime Minister's Bureau responded to allegations by attorney Liat Ben Ari, who is involved in the investigations against Netanyahu. Ben Ari had said that she "found it difficult to accept that hundreds of thousands of shekels given to a public servant were merely presents from one friend to another."
The Bureau said that "there is no basis for the claim that there was anything untoward in the relations between the prime minister and his friends. There were no vested interests and no kickbacks."