Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu Faces Corruption Charges
Netanyahu is expected to challenge the indictment in the court. As the court case will linger on for years, he may win a fifth term after April 9 election.
By Rakesh Raman
The Attorney General of Israel Avichai Mandelblit announced on February 28 that he would indict Prime Minister (PM) Benjamin Netanyahu on charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust in three different cases.
Netanyahu says the charges are politically motivated to harm him just before the election. He has called the inquiry a “witch hunt” and said Mandelblit is weak.
Netanyahu’s response is similar to the one offered by his friend Donald Trump when he found that Attorney General Jeff Sessions was not able to stop the Russia investigation against Trump’s alleged ties with Russia that allegedly helped Trump win the 2016 presidential race.
[ Trump’s Pick William Barr May Scuttle Mueller’s Russia Probe ]
Netanyahu is expected to challenge the indictment in the court. As the court case will linger on for years, he may win a fifth term after April 9 election.
In a similar case, India’s PM Narendra Modi is facing serious corruption charges in Rafale scam, which is stated to be the biggest government fraud in the world with an estimated corruption money amounting to Rs. 30,000 crore (approximately US$ 4 billion).
Like Trump fired Jeff Sessions, Modi surreptitiously removed the CBI Director Alok Verma who was supposed to investigate the Rafale case in which Modi is an accused.
Since there are no checks and balances in the Indian system of governance, the case will gradually get closed although the Supreme Court of India has ostensibly decided to reopen the Rafale case.
[ Supreme Court Allows Open Hearing of Rafale Case Petitions ]
Former Indian ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, along with lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan had filed a complaint with the CBI, urging the agency to register an FIR against Modi and former defence minister Manohar Parrikar.
The complaint alleges that Modi and Parrikar have committed a number of offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act, in the course of the April 2015 decision to purchase 36 Rafale aircraft from Dassault Aviation. The complaint was handed over to Alok Verma, who was Director of the CBI.
The complaint states that Modi – who is a public servant – misused his position as PM of India to give undue benefit to his close associate Anil Ambani who is the Chairman of Reliance ADA group of companies.
By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of a humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society. He also creates and publishes a number of digital publications on different subjects.
