‘As happened in all previous instances … here as well there will be nothing, because there is nothing’, Mr Netanyahu’s spokesperson has said
By Jess Staufenberg | 11 July 2016
THE INDEPENDENT — Benjamin Netanyahu is under investigation by Israel’s attorney general after reports he was gifted a large amount of money from an unknown source.
The Israel Prime Minister has dismissed the allegations of corruption, which are the most recent in a series leveled against himself and his wife, as “baseless”.
But a formal examination was announced by the attorney general late on Sunday, and could prove to be embarrassing for the leader known as “Bibi” if found to be true.
After the Justice Ministry confirmed it was looking into suspicions, Israeli media began to report that either Mr. Netanyahu or one of his family members had received a large sum of money unrelated to political campaigns. …
And in another allegation, Arnaud Mimran [see below], a French man convicted of a carbon tax fraud last week, said he gave Mr Netanyahu large sums for an election campaigns, an exchange which would violate Israel’s campaign finance laws. […]
“Netanyahu denies receiving perks from French-Jewish alleged fraudster“
25 March 2016
JEWISH TELEGRAPH AGENCY (Paris) — A French journalist said he had proof that a defendant in a major fraud trial set to begin in Paris donated funds to Israel’s Likud party and gave personal favors to Benjamin Netanyahu before he became prime minister.
Arnaud Mimran [see below], a French Jew whose trial is set to begin in May for allegedly defrauding, with several partners, the European Union out of 282 million euros, about $315 million, allowed Netanyahu to use a large apartment in Paris, according to Fabrice Arfi, a journalist for the Mediapart news site. He shared the findings of his investigation with Haaretz, which published a report about it on Friday.
Netanyahu’s office denied the claims.
Netanyahu had used the apartment on Victor Hugo Avenue since the early 2000s, according to the report. He and
Mimran were photographed together in Monaco near France in 2003 when Netanyahu was Israel’s finance minister and Mimran was already suspected of crimes separate to the ones for which he will stand trial.
In 2000, Mimran was investigated on suspicion of insider trading in the United States and agreed, together with his partners, to pay a fine of $1.2 million, Haaretz reported. He also donated an unspecified amount of money to Likud officials in France, the report said based on findings shared by Mediapart with Haaretz.
Mimran, who was convicted of tax offenses in France in the late 1990s, is accused of using front companies to collect VAT returns from France on carbon emissions permits that he bought from countries that did not collect VAT on them, like the Netherlands. Known as the carbon emissions scam, it is believed to have caused billions in damages in 2009 by fraudulently exploiting the differences in how industrialized nations encouraged reducing emission of greenhouse gases. […]
“French Tycoon Linked to Netanyahu Sentenced to 8 Years in Prison“
Arnaud Mimran was convicted of fraud charges in what has been dubbed the ‘fraud of the century.’ He has separately claimed to have deposited 170,000 euros in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s account.
By Dov Alfon | 7 July 2016
- French fraudster behind ‘sting of century’ claims he gave Netanyahu $200k in 2009
- Foreign funds at center of new police investigation against Netanyahu
- Netanyahu’s French connection: How the ‘sting of the century’ got its start in Israel
- Key witness in French tycoon’s fraud case is holed up in Tel Aviv flat
HAARETZ — A Paris court on Thursday convicted and sentenced Arnaud Mimran in a massive carbon-tax fraud dubbed “the sting of the century” by French media outlets.
Mimran claimed in the course of the investigation that he donated $200,000 to Benjamin Netanyahu for the latter’s 2009 election campaign. The prime minister says the only money he ever received from the French businessman was a $40,000 donation in 2001.
Mimran, the main suspect in a trial with a dozen defendants, received an eight-year prison sentence and a 1-million-euro fine. In addition, personal assets up to the value of 283 million euros — the loss to tax revenue as a result of his offenses — will be forfeited to the state. […]
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