Israeli foreign minister tries to avoid graft indictment

By Ofira Koopmans Jan 16, 2012, 12:31 GMT

Jerusalem - Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is making a final effort to avoid standing trial on corruption charges.

Lieberman's lawyers are scheduled to attend a hearing at the attorney general's office in Jerusalem on Tuesday and Wednesday, and will try to convince Yehuda Weinstein not to indict their client.

In April, Weinstein announced that investigators had gathered enough evidence to indict Lieberman, 53, of the ultra-nationalist Israel Beiteinu party, for fraud, breach of trust, money laundering and harassing a witness.

But that decision was preliminary, because Lieberman was entitled to a hearing before a final one would be taken.

Justice Ministry spokesman Moshe Cohen told dpa on Monday that the foreign minister himself would not attend the two sessions, each of which was expected to last 60-90 minutes. He said they would not be open to media.

The final decision for or against an indictment was expected within weeks, not months, after the hearing, the Justice Ministry said.

Legal experts said Monday that the likelihood of the indictment being cancelled as a result of the hearing was 'slight,' although 'not impossible.' The chance that only some of the charges would be dropped or mitigated was less unlikely, they said.

According to the draft indictment published in April, Lieberman allegedly transferred millions of dollars via shell companies under his control, when he was a lawmaker and minister between 2001-08.

When he became a legislator in 1999, he allegedly consulted with his lawyer about how to continue his business activities despite a prohibition on doing so as a public servant.

As part of a scheme of 'systematic and deliberate' fraud, he allegedly bought and established cover-up companies in Israel, Cyprus and the Virgin Islands, which he was careful not to register in his own name. One was registered in his daughter's name as soon as she became an adult.

Through the companies, Lieberman allegedly channeled millions of dollars, apparently often for no services delivered or without any connection to the companies' stated activities.

Lieberman has said he is innocent, insisting that he 'always acted in accordance with the law.'

An indictment against him will have implications for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, comprising 66 mandates in the 120-seat Knesset, Israel's parliament.

Lieberman, a Moldovian-born father of three who lives in a settlement near Jerusalem, has said in the past that if indicted, he will quit the Foreign Ministry. He may not, however, immediately give up his Knesset seat.

It is unclear whether his 15-seat party, Netanyahu's largest coalition partner, would stay or leave with him.

If it does, Netanyahu will have to court other parties, or may decide to hold parliamentary elections, currently scheduled for February 2013, at an earlier date.