The State Comptroller in Israel on Monday morning postponed a request by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to receive pledges to finance his judicial expenses in corruption cases.
The Israeli prime minister is seeking $ 2 million in contributions from two close businessmen, Spencer Bertridge and Netanyahu´s cousin Natan Milikovsky, to fund his judicial defense in cases against him on charges of corruption and bribery.
The State Comptroller´s Office of approval committee justified Netanyahu´s request for "lack of cooperation" and refused to disclose the "status of his current wealth".
A statement by the State Comptroller´s Office said that "all requests by the prime minister for final approval" have been rejected for receiving pledges.
Netanyahu´s lawyer had asked Sunday at the last minute to postpone consideration of the request for an additional month, which was considered by the approval committee "unacceptable," according to the statement.
She explained that she "approached the prime minister´s clients several times and asked for the required information in order to continue to consider his request, but it turned out that the prime minister refuses to disclose the status of his current wealth."
"The prime minister has not cooperated to this day and has not responded to any of the committee´s requests."
The approval committee has twice rejected Netanyahu´s request for donations to fund his defense, forcing him to return $ 300,000 he had received from Milikovsky without prior permission or approval.
On June 6, Israeli Attorney General Avihay Mendelblit refused to postpone a hearing for Netanyahu on corruption cases scheduled for October.
