Israeli prosecutors have released an amended indictment spelling out charges against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a case in which he is accused of trading favours with a powerful media mogul.
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Netanyahu has been charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three corruption cases.
One of them alleges he promoted regulations worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the owner of the Bezeq telecom company in exchange for positive coverage on its popular Walla news site.
In response to a request from Netanyahu's lawyers for more details, prosecutors released a letter on Sunday alleging 315 incidents of Walla being asked to make coverage more favorable for Netanyahu and his family.
They said there were indications Netanyahu was personally involved in 150 of those incidents.
It said the requests included giving more time or prominence to positive articles, changing headlines and lowering or removing unfavorable stories.
It also included alleged requests for negative coverage of Netanyahu's rivals.
The document listed all 315 suspected incidents, which allegedly included numerous requests to publish flattering articles and photos of Netanyahu's wife Sara, to conceal reports of embarrassing expenditures and personal information about the Netanyahu family and attempts to embarrass his rivals.
It quoted Bezeq's controlling shareholder at the time, Shaul Elovitch, as expressing concerns Netanyahu would not approve lucrative business deals for the company if negative articles were published.
On January 17-19, 2013, for instance, it said a Netanyahu associate persuaded Elovitch to publish stories saying the wife of Naftali Bennett, head of a rival religious party, worked in a non-kosher restaurant.
Several weeks later, Netanyahu, through the same associate, allegedly pressed Walla to remove critical articles about a lacy dress his wife wore to the swearing-in of the new parliament and replace it with favorable reviews.
The site consented to both requests, it said.
On another occasion, Elovitch, at Netanyahu's request, allegedly ordered Walla to halt a live broadcast of a rally by Netanyahu's opponents during the country's 2015 election campaign.
Netanyahu's trial began last year and is scheduled to resume next month.
He denies all charges against him, saying he is the victim of a witch hunt orchestrated by a hostile media, police and prosecutors.
Australian Associated Press
