IN BRIEF (Page 4)

Israel

Govt begins PM's corruption hearing

Israeli Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit opened on Wednesday a series of pre-indictment hearings on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, ahead of possible criminal indictments over corruptions, according to Israeli Department of Justice. Netanyahu was not scheduled to attend the hearings and would be represented by a team of about ten of Israel's top lawyers. The four-day hearings will first focus on a bribery case dubbed by the police "Case 4000", in which Netanyahu is suspected of taking bribes from Shaul Elovitch, a former control-holder of Bezeq, Israel's largest telecom company, by giving Bezeq financial and regulatory benefits. Netanyahu has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, dismissing the allegations as "a political witch hunt".