Police are expected to request that Yonatan Urich and Eli Feldstien remain in custody for another nine days as the investigation into the ‘Qatar-Gate’ affair continues.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s aides, Yonatan Urich and Eli Feldstein, were brought to the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, where a hearing on the extension of their police custody in the Qatar-Gate affair is currently underway.
The police are expected to request that their custody be extended by nine days so interrogations can continue after the two were arrested and interrogated on Monday.
According to the police, Urich conveyed messages to journalists, supposedly on behalf of the Prime Minister’s Office, while their true source was a Qatari agent.
During the hearing, police investigator Zohar Erez revealed that Urich was asked in the intergation if he leaked classified information from cabinet meetings. She noted that Prime Minister Netanyahu was also asked if his advisor leaked information.
Adv. Amit Hadad, who represents Urich, claimed that the police are pressuring the suspects. He quoted: “The interrogator asked Urich: ‘Think good and well, because you can see you kid tonight.'” The investigator, Erez, who was present during the interrogation, denied the claim.
Hadad asked the court to lift the gag order on the case and “reveal the absurdity in these baseless suspicions and the injustice against him (Urich) which shout to the heavens. This case has no evidence, only hot air for the purpose of the media. We can not allow law enforcement to hide and blur the truth behind orders when it comes to such severe harm to a person, his name, and his basic rights.”
Judge Menachem Mizrahi lifted the gag order on the details of the case. However, the police asked to petition the decision, and the judge decided to delay lifting the order until Wednesday.
Investigators from the Lahav 433 police investigations unit arrested Urich and Feldstein on charges of connections with a foreign agent, bribery, breach of trust, and tax offenses.
In connection with the affair, a journalist and a businessman were arrested and later released to five days of house arrest. Prime Minister Netanyahu testified to investigators in his office but was not interrogated under caution.
