Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit
Attorney General Avichai MandelblitAmit Shabi/Flash 90

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit said Monday he would approve a criminal probe of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu if "reasonable" grounds were found, countering charges that the two men are too close, AFP reports.

In July, Mandelblit said he had given the go-ahead for inquiries into a "matter" involving Netanyahu, defining the case as "an examination and not a criminal investigation into the prime minister".

Reports last week suggested that all the inquiries against Netanyahu would be closed after the upcoming Tishrei holidays, due to the fact that investigators concluded that there is no suspicion of criminal acts on the part of the Prime Minister.

Mandelblit, who was appointed attorney general in February after serving for three years as Netanyahu's cabinet secretary, has been accused by some media of dragging his feet over the case.

But the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper on Monday quoted extensively from an interview given by Mandelblit for a coming edition of the Israel Bar Association's magazine in which he says his actions are strictly professional and does not rule out a criminal probe of Netanyahu.

"No one has an interest in delaying the probe. No one derives any benefit from it being delayed," he was quoted as having said.

"If reasonable suspicion comes to light, it will turn into a criminal investigation - and I don't care who the subject is," stressed the Attorney General.

At this stage that is not the case, Mandelblit stressed, "but the examination is still not over, and changes are always a possibility".

The current probe is not the first time that the premier's name has been linked with impropriety although he has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

In June, he acknowledged receiving money from French tycoon Arnaud Mimran, who was sentenced to eight years in jail over a $315-million scam involving the trade of carbon emissions permits and the taxes on them.

In May, Israel's state comptroller released a critical report about Netanyahu's foreign trips, some with his wife and children, between 2003 and 2005 when he was finance minister.

There have also been allegations the couple spent public funds on garden furniture and electrical repairs at their private villa in the coastal resort of Caesarea.

Also, a former butler has accused the Prime Minister’s wife, Sara Netanyahu, of pocketing cash from deposit refunds for empty bottles returned from the official residence between 2009 and 2013, money that should have gone to the treasury.

AFP contributed to this report.