The Justice Ministry announced on Sunday that outgoing foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, will be summoned for questioned in the coming days following new evidence that was received by the police.
Lieberman resigned from his position on December 14, a day after Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein announced he would be indicting him on charges of fraud and breach of trust.
Despite Lieberman having resigned, however, the indictment has yet to be filed. The former Foreign Minister is suspected of having suggested in December 2009 that the government name the former ambassador to Belarus to a post in another country, despite the fact that -- according to the evidence presented -- he knew that he had done wrong in passing along secret information, including details of a police enquiry against Lieberman.
"A few days after the publication of the decision to indict Lieberman, media reports surfaced which quoted unnamed officials about the process of appointment at the Appointments Committee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," the Justice Ministry said Sunday evening.
"The publications implied that Lieberman may have been involved in the appointment of the ambassador at a level exceeding that which was attributed to him by the facts in the indictment. Following these reports, and though there was no need to establish the indictment that has already been decided on, it was decided to investigate the new claims," said the Ministry.
The Ministry noted that in recent days the police have questioned the relevant parties. Before making a final decision whether to correct the wording of the indictment, it was decided to allow Lieberman to respond to the new information and this, noted the Ministry, is what is causing a delay in the filing of the indictment.
Lieberman indicated last week that he would be interested in reaching a plea bargain with the State that would allow him to run in the upcoming election and be appointed a senior Cabinet minister in the next government.
A meeting between Lieberman's attorney and Weinstein yielded no results, as Weinstein clarified he would not back down on requesting that the Court find moral turpitude in Lieberman's actions.