The head of the Lahav 433 anti-corruption unit, Dep.- Ch. Koresh Barnur, arrived at the Prime Minister’s Residence early Sunday evening.

Police were with the prime minister for a little over three hours, before leaving his residence around 11 p.m., after the first of what is expected to be several interrogation sessions.

Police would not provide any further details.

Netanyahu – who has denied the allegations – is suspected of receiving improper gifts worth hundreds of thousands of shekels from Israeli and foreign businessmen, in a manner which breached his duty of trust as a public servant.

Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit issued a statement after the completion of the questioning, confirming that the probe has become a full-fledged criminal investigation.

Mandelblit said Netanyahu has been accused of ethics breaches, and that his office gathered sufficient evidence to justify ordering a full criminal investigation.

Mandelblit’s office confirmed that it ordered a preliminary review in July of a variety of allegations. He noted that his office looked into and dismissed allegations in four areas: that Netanyahu ran an unreported, illegally financed shadow campaign in the 2009 general election; that Netanyahu rigged the Likud primary results in 2009; that he received gifts and benefits from wealthy people while overseas; and that he double-dipped in payments for flights overseas.

Mandelblit said many investigative activities were undertaken, including questioning dozens of interviews and obtaining a large volume of documents, including from foreign citizens. Mandelblit, State Attorney Shai Nitzan and top police officials met dozens of times to discuss ongoing developments.

Multiple sources said Netanyahu was confronted during the investigation with testimony from two businessmen he had alleged ties to.

According to Channel 2, Netanyahu did not know about all the suspicions investigators presented during his questioning.

Earlier on Monday, the prime minister continued to show confidence that the investigation into graft allegations against him would lead nowhere.

“I see the spirit of celebration in the television studios,” Netanyahu said at a Likud faction meeting. “Wait with the celebrations; don’t hurry.”

The prime minister then repeated what has become his catchphrase in relation to investigations – “There will be nothing because there is nothing” – and the Likud activists and MKs in the room applauded him.

At the opening of the meeting, Bitan said the whole party believes in Netanyahu and hopes he will remain prime minister for many more years.

Participants in the meeting applauded that comment as well.

On Monday morning, the Prime Minister’s Residence was closed off and a black partition was erected on the gate, to keep out the prying eyes of the media.

This follows reports that surfaced over the weekend regarding comments made by World Jewish Congress president and long-time Netanyahu ally Ronald Lauder, who told police that he did give Netanyahu and his son gifts, including expensive suits. The evidence provided by Lauder supposedly provided impetus to interrogate Netanyahu.

There is allegedly a second, more serious case against Netanyahu, the details of which remain unknown. Channel 2 alluded to the possibility of the more severe charge being related to an attempt to receive a bribe, though the charge is notoriously hard to prove because it means that no bribe was received.

Over the weekend, Netanyahu issued various responses denying all accusations and insinuating his accusers of trying to implicate him with the police, since they could not beat him at the ballot box. “Try to replace the prime minister at the ballot box, as is customary practice in a democracy,” the prime minister wrote on his Facebook page Saturday night.

http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Police-due-to-question-Netanyahu-today-in-graft-probe-477217