JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, appeared in court on Sunday for the first hearing in the fraud trial against her, in which she is alleged to have misused state funds in ordering catered meals.

According to the indictment filed in June, Sara Netanyahu, along with a government employee, fraudulently obtained from the state more than $100,000 for hundreds of meals supplied by restaurants, bypassing regulations that prohibit the practice if a cook is employed at home.

Mrs Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing. She was charged in June with fraud and breach of trust and of aggravated fraudulent receipt of goods. If convicted, she could face up to five years in prison.

Looking tense as she walked into Sunday’s hearing, she made no comment to reporters and sat on a bench behind her lawyers. Israeli media reports said the session would deal with procedural matters.

Mrs Netanyahu’s lawyers contend the indictment does not hold up because the regulations for ordering meals were legally invalid and a household employee had requisitioned the food despite her protestations.

“If we even get to the stage of presenting evidence, I do believe Your Honour may laugh,” one of her attorneys, Yossi Cohen, told the court. She was not asked to enter a plea.

The prime minister, who himself is embroiled in a series of corruption investigations, has called the allegations against his wife absurd and unfounded.

Sara Netanyahu, 59, has inspired a multitude of headlines in the past over what family spokesmen call an undeserved reputation for imperiousness.

In 2017 the Netanyahus won a libel suit against an Israeli journalist who said Sara once kicked her husband out of their car during an argument. In 2016, a Jerusalem labour court ruled that she had insulted and raged at household staff in the prime minister’s official residence.

It seemed unlikely that Sara’s present legal woes would cause significant political damage to her husband.

Published in Dawn, October 8th, 2018