Israeli police questioned Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife on Friday as part of a corruption investigation involving the country’s largest telecom firm, local media reported, the third such scandal to engulf the prime minister.

Known as Case 4,000, the investigation centres around allegations that the owners of Bezeq Israel Telecom provided positive coverage of the Netanyahus on a news website in return for regulatory changes worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Bezeq has denied wrongdoing, and Netanyahu has not been named as suspect in the case. Police confirmed the Netanyahus had been questioned for several hours as part of an investigation, but did not specify which one.

Channel 10 TV showed footage on Friday of police entering Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem. His wife, Sara, was being questioned at the same time in Tel Aviv, according to her lawyer.

The reports throw a cloud above Netanyahu’s planned visit to Washington next week, where he will meet Donald Trump and give a speech to the pro-Israel lobby Aipac.

Pressure has been piling on the 68-year-old leader, whose rightwing politics have dominated Israel for a generation. Last month, police recommended Israel’s attorney general indict him in two separate bribery investigations, one of which also relates to gifts in exchange for favourable media reports.

That development, along with the arrest of high-level members of his inner circle, poses a serious threat to the country’s second-longest serving prime minister, who has held office for four terms.

Netanyahu, who also headed the communications portfolio until last year, has vehemently denied allegations of corruption and accuses the media of leading a witch-hunt against him.

Case 1,000, also known as the “gifts affair”, involves claims that he and his family received about £200,000 worth of gifts from international billionaires, including expensive cigars, pink champagne and jewellery for his wife. Alleged wealthy benefactors include the Hollywood producer and media magnate Arnon Milchan and the Australian businessman James Packer.



In return, police say, Netanyahu helped Milchan, a producer who worked on Pretty Woman and Fight Club, with US visa matters and Israeli tax breaks.

Case 2,000 relates to secret talks with the publisher of a leading Israeli newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, in which Netanyahu allegedly requested supportive coverage in exchange for damaging a competitor, the pro-Netanyahu freesheet Israel Hayom.

A further case under investigation – Case 3,000 – is an inquiry into alleged kickbacks in a deal to buy German submarines. Netanyahu is not a suspect, but he was closely involved in the deal and the case has ensnared members of his inner circle.

The attorney general will decide whether to accept the police recommendation to charge Netanyahu, a process that is likely to take months. Netanyahu’s delicately balanced coalition has stood by him so far, and he plans to run in elections due in late 2019.

Reuters contributed to this report