Former defense minister Binyamin “Fuad” Ben-Eliezer was charged on Wednesday at the Tel Aviv District Court in a series of cases against him involving alleged corruption.
The charges – which span five cases – include bribery, money laundering, fraud, breach of trust, and tax offenses. He was charged along with five other people: Businessmen Jacky Ben-Zaken, Charlie Yehuda, Roi Mutzapi, and Avraham Nanikashvili and Ben-Eliezer’s former bureau chief Ayelet Azoulay.
Last month, Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein dismissed his attorneys’ objections in a pre-indictment hearing.
In June, Weinstein had said he would likely file an indictment against Ben-Eliezer, 79, for the five charges.
The case against Ben-Eliezer deals with allegations from 2007 to 2014, including a period when he was national infrastructure minister. He allegedly accepted large bribes from a number of associates in order to advance their business interests.
Before the case against Ben-Eliezer broke in June 2014, he was expected to be a front-runner in the election that same month for the presidency.
