Freshman MK Oren Hazan (Likud) has spoken out for the first time since a State Comptroller report accused him of improperly using state resources to fund his primaries election campaign.
"About what I knew and did - I've already declared during questioning with the State Comptroller. I explained I didn't know I had to declare what my dad did for me, and I brought a corrected report," Hazan told Army Radio on Sunday.
"Nothing was done here knowingly," he continued. "If a mistake was made, it was done in good faith, with no [criminal] intentions."
Despite facing jail time for his alleged misdeeds, Hazan added that he has nothing to hide and that he intends to serve the public for many years to come.
"With all due respect to the Knesset Speaker and some ministers, the people who influence Likud are the activists - and 100 activists came to my candle lighting last week, so you can't say, God forbid, that my party is renouncing me."
Hazan, who was suspended for 30 days from the Knesset for another scandal involving his mocking of disabled MK Karin Elharar (Yesh Atid), said he has been receiving death threats over the episode.
"I'm receiving responses like 'die,' 'shoot yourself in the head' and other pearls of wisdom," he noted. "Just because I'm a Likud man doesn't mean my blood [can be spilled]. If someone does take it seriously and shoots me, then maybe you'll wake up, but I hope it won't be too late."
Blaming a "rude" Elharar for refusing to apologize for instigating threats against his life, Hazan said he was certain the decision to pick on him was intentional.
"I'm a symbol of the Likud, unequivocally," he asserted. "The Prime Minister and I are friends in the same faction, and we're friends beyond as well."