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Bibi lawyers: Police probed Netanyahu before A-G approved


PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu with members of his legal team at the beginning of his corruption trial at the Jerusalem District Court in May. (photo credit: RONEN ZVULUN/REUTERS)
PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu with members of his legal team at the beginning of his corruption trial at the Jerusalem District Court in May.
(photo credit: RONEN ZVULUN/REUTERS)

Demand Case 2000 be nixedThe police probed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Case 2000 before they were given legal authorization to do so by Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit, the prime minister's lawyers claimed to the Jerusalem District Court on Sunday.

Although technically the motion by Netanyahu's lawyers was their final chance to get the court to force the prosecution to cough up documents that it has refused to turn over, the lawyers revealed some new lines of attack in the process – which if true, could disqualify large portions of the case.

In Case 2000, Netanyahu is accused of involvement in an attempted media bribery scheme in which he allegedly took several actions as prime minister to reduce the competitiveness of the Yisrael Hayom newspaper for the benefit of its competitor Yediot Ahronot, in return for a promise by Yediot owner Arnon “Nuni” Mozes to systematically shift coverage of him from being negative to positive.
According to Netanyahu's more than 200-page motion on Sunday, the police started to probe Netanyahu in relation to the case in March 2016, even though an official written approval from Mandelblit came only about four months later on July 10.

The reason this could be important is that Israeli law specifically restrains the police from probing the prime minister unless authorized to do so by the attorney-general.
In some circumstances, if the police gather evidence without legal authority, the evidence – and sometimes the entire case – could be disqualified.    
At press time, the Justice Ministry had not responded and was expected to take time to review the full motion by Netanyahu's lawyers.
A win for Netanyahu on this line of attack is not necessarily guaranteed, however.
The Hebrew used in the relevant law is somewhat vague and could refer to different stages of a probe, meaning that certain initial stages could be allowed without the attorney-general’s approval.
Also, Mandelblit might have given an earlier verbal approval that was not recorded - though if so, the prosecution may need to provide additional information to the defense on this issue.
Finally, even if the police did overreach, Israeli law lets judges have the option of disqualifying evidence, but also gives them the discretion to reprimand the police, while allowing the evidence to remain admissible at trial – presuming they believe the evidence is true and the police merely made a technical error


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