JERUSALEM: Sara Netanyahu, wife of Israel’s prime minister, is reportedly suspected by authorities of accepting bribes in a corruption case involving Israel’s telecom giant.

Haaretz and other Israeli media reported on Thursday that police investigator Uri Kanar told a Tel Aviv court that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife was a suspect.

The case deals with suspicions that Netanyahu confidants promoted regulations worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the Bezeq telecom company in exchange for positive coverage of the prime minister in Bezeq’s news website, Walla.

Netanyahu’s lawyers dismissed the report. Police didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Police have questioned Netanyahu and his wife concerning the case, also known as Case 4000, but neither had been known to be directly implicated.

Police recommended indicting Netanyahu in two other corruption cases. The prime minister has denied any wrongdoing.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2018