Police detained Michal Lieberman, daughter of MK Avigdor Lieberman, along with six other suspects connected to the Yisrael Beiteinu chief, for interrogation Sunday morning. One of the suspects detained is MK Lieberman's lawyer, Yoav Meni.
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The seven are suspects in an ongoing investigation of bribery and money-laundering charges against Avigdor Lieberman. The investigation, which began in 2006, centers on suspicions that the politician received bribes from businessmen in exchange for his political assistance. The businessmen allegedly transferred the bribe money into Michal Lieberman's bank account and to companies registered on her name.
According to a Ha'aretz investigative report published in 2007, the company – ML-1 -- was created in 2004, when Michal was 21 years old. It made more than NIS 7 million in three years, for “business consultancy” services rendered overseas. Her father drew a salary of NIS 600,000 from the company in its first year of operation, according to this report.
All of the major news sites which reported the detainments also noted their extraordinary timing – just two and a half weeks before the general elections, and just after polls showed Lieberman's party gaining in strength and possibly becoming larger than Labor.
'If it weren't grave it would be funny'
Yisrael Beiteinu issued a very short statement to the Hebrew press in which it stated that “if [the matter] weren't so grave it would be funny.” The statement went on to note with incredulity the fact that “an investigation that goes on for so many years in complete silence, suddenly finds its expression two weeks before elections, when the trend undoubtedly shows that Lieberman is gaining strength.”
However, statements made to the Russian-language press were more explicit. According to Ha'aretz, the party told the Russian press that people with political influence “took out a contract on Lieberman two weeks before the elections and they are the ones who are manipulating the police.”
A senior editor in a Russian language publication said that “these elements can only come from within Kadima,” noting that the Public Security Minister and the Minister of Interior are both from Kadima.
Lieberman has been under investigation for various corruption charges over the past decade. Some of the charges against him were dropped very shortly after he joined the Kadima-led coalition in 2006 and became the Minister for Strategic Affairs. Analysts say that the prosecution's steps against Lieberman at that time prevented him from becoming Public Security Minister -- a position that would have put him in charge of the police.
Will Kadima tempt Lieberman?
Sources in Likud have been voicing concern in recent days over the fact that Lieberman has not yet endorsed Binyamin Netanyahu – either publicly or in private conversations – as his preferred candidate for Prime Minister. They note that if Kadima offers Lieberman a tempting deal, he could join forces with it and make its leader, Tzipi Livni, the next prime minister, even if Kadima receives fewer Knesset seats than Likud.
There are also reports that Netanyahu does not intend to form a coalition with Lieberman anyways.
Sources in the police and judicial branch denied Sunday that there was any connection between the timing of the detainments and the pre-election political arena. The sources said that “any claim to the effect that the investigation needs to be postponed until after the elections is a crude attempt to interfere in the investigation.”
At an election rally Sunday evening, Lieberman referred jokingly to the investigation: "We are a right-wing conservative party and we value tradition," he said. "Until this morning I was worried because an important element of our tradition was lacking: the interrogation before the elections. But now I am calm: the tradition has been upheld.”