A hearing was held today, Wednesday, in the prosecution office for state witness Shlomo Filber, four years after his testimony. Legal officials believe prosecutors are considering canceling his agreement, partly because they suspect he lied from the witness stand. They are also now weighing whether to file a criminal indictment against him.
The case has an added legal complication because Filber is represented by attorney Amit Hadad, who is also defending Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in parallel. That overlap puts another sensitive layer around the decision now under review by the prosecution.
In February, during cross-examination, prosecutor Yehudit Tirosh presented Netanyahu with statements that Yifat Ben Haya Segav, then chair of the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Council, gave to police in the period covered by the indictment in Case 4000. According to her account, Filber, who was then director general of the Communications Ministry, said the Bezeq-Yes deal was “one of the urgent issues for the minister.”
Netanyahu responded that Filber had used his name and insisted, “Filber is not telling the truth. He is using my name. He broke very quickly and lied in the investigation.” He added that he had not spoken with Filber about the matter, saying he hears people speaking in his name every day, and even claimed that just the day before four Knesset members had done so without speaking to him.
