It appears that Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein has decided to charge, pending a hearing, former Labor minister Binyamin (Fuad) Ben-Eliezer with accepting bribes, fraud, breach of trust and money laundering, a report on Channel 2 News said. Weinstein's office issued a response saying, "No decision has been made on the matter, and one is expected to be made soon." Attorney Liat Ben-Ari from the Tel Aviv District Attorney's Office, who has reviewed the material and conferred with Weinstein, has been assigned to the investigation. On January 6, the Lahav 433 Unit of the Israel Police announced that it had completed its investigation into the alleged charges against Ben-Eliezer and had assembled a base of evidence that the crimes had been committed. The suspicions against Ben-Eliezer date back to 2006, when he served as National Infrastructures Minister and later as Industry, Trade and Labor Minister. Businesspeople with whom he had close ties allegedly gave him large sums of money to promote their business interests. Ben-Eliezer is also suspected of laundering millions of shekels, which he allegedly hid in the bank accounts of family members and through currency exchanges. As a result of the investigation against him, Ben-Eliezer was forced to withdraw his candidacy for the presidency. Attorneys Navot Tel-Tzur and Tal Shapira, who are representing Ben-Eliezer, issued a statement that "for 60 years, Ben-Eliezer served the State of Israel loyally and devotedly, and he is determined to fight for his good name in light of his complicated medical situation." Ben-Eliezer underwent a kidney transplant in 2014, and his lawyers are expected to address their client's health status during the upcoming hearing. "We hope and believe that a thorough, in-depth examination of the material by the prosecution will present a completely different picture," the former minister's attorneys wrote.
