JERUSALEM, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Supreme Court's Chief Justice Esther Hayut gave an open testimony to the police on Tuesday over a corruption case involving one of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's confidants.
The testimony concerns a new corruption allegation that emerged on Tuesday, in which the police accused Nir Hefetz, Netanyahu's close associate and his former media adviser, of attempting to bribe a judge, Hila Gerstel.
Hefetz allegedly offered Gerstel the position of the attorney general if she will, in return, drop a corruption case against Netanyahu's wife, Sara.
Gerstel, a former president of the Central District Court and an Ombudsman of the State Prosecutor's Office, was a candidate for the position of the attorney general in 2015.
She never informed the police about the alleged bribery attempt, according to the police. However, she privately divulged some of the information to her colleague and friend, Esther Hayut, who was at the time a judge in the Supreme Court.
In her testimony, Hayut confirmed that Gerstel told her that during her candidacy period, a close associate of Netanyahu approached her through a mutual friend and asked her what she should do with the prime minister's wife's investigation if she would be nominated as attorney general.
"Gerstel expressed dismay to the president over the incident," Hayut told the police investigators.
Hayut said she did not report the incident to the police because Gerstel told her about it only in retrospect, after another candidate was appointed to the office.
Netanyahu said that he did not believe Hefetz made such an offer, while accusing certain forces of trying to topple him through a "crusade."
It was the latest in a number of criminal allegations about Netanyahu and some of his closest associates.
Also on Tuesday, Hadashot TV news reported that Shlomo Filber, who was the director of Communication Ministry under Netanyahu, is in "advanced stages" of inking a deal with the prosecution to become a state witness in the so-called "case 4000."
Filber is suspected of granting regulatory and financial benefits to Bezeq, Israel's largest telecom company. In return, Shaul Elovitch, the owner of Bezeq and Netanyahu's associate, instructed the Walla news site, controlled by Bezeq, to give Netanyahu and his wife favorable coverage.
Elovitch, Hefetz, Filber, and other senior executives with Bezeq have been arrested since Sunday.
Netanyahu is not yet a suspect in this case, but Filber, a 55-year-old father of children, is expected to incriminate Netanyahu as part of his state witness deal.
Last week, the Israeli police recommended charging Netanyahu with corruption in two separate cases.
In the first one, dubbed by the police "case 1000," Netanyahu is suspected of receiving expensive jewelry, cigars, and champaign in return for promoting the interests of Israeli businessman and Hollywood tycoon, Arnon Milchan.
In the second case, dubbed "case 2000," Netanyahu allegedly received bribes from Arnon Mozes, the publisher of Yedioth Aharonoth, one of Israel's largest newspapers, in return for promoting a law to limit the distribution of Israel Hayom, Yedioth's main rival.
