The Israel Police interrogated Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman Wednesday for the fifth time since he took office. The session lasted five and half hours and leaks that immediately followed it suggest that the police are tightening the noose around the Foreign Minister, and will recommend within a month’s time that the Prosecution press charges against him.
Besides questioning Lieberman over alleged money laundering and corruption, police investigators added a new item to their list of suspicions against the senior politician: obstruction of justice.
Channel 2 reported that police think Lieberman and his associates changed the names of ‘front’ companies he established in Cyprus for money laundering purposes. He supposedly changed the companies’ names on three occasions, when he suspected that police had identified the firms.
Bribes and money laundering
Lieberman is suspected of receiving bribes through a consulting company that was owned by his daughter Michal. In addition he is suspected of fraud, breach of trust and money laundering offenses.
Police reportedly feel they have enough evidence against Lieberman following Wednesday’s interrogation to make their recommendation to indict, and will not need further sessions. If this is indeed the case, an earlier leak that suggested the police’s case was fraying may have been a ruse.
Police politically motivated?
Lieberman has said that the investigations against him are politically motivated. The police detained Lieberman's daughter, Michal, just two weeks before the last national election, and the Attorney General leaked information about the investigation against Lieberman on the evening before the polls opened. These moves were widely interpreted as attempts to influence the election results against Lieberman, but may have caused the opposite effect by galvanizing his supporters.
If Lieberman is charged with criminal activities he will have to resign as Foreign Minister.
Voters in Israel are especially wary of police investigations against politicians ever since Prime Minister Ariel Sharon reversed the nationalist platform upon which he was elected in 2000, in the wake of a criminal investigation against him. It is widely believed that the investigation was used by leftist elements to railroad Sharon into carrying out the Disengagement from Gaza, in return for the dropping of charges against him.