Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has ordered an investigation into the alleged corruption of a senior Israeli intelligence official, local media revealed yesterday.
According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, this would include investigating ties between top Israeli spymaster and Mossad chief Yossi Cohen and movie producer Arnon Milchan, also a former intelligence operative, over allegations that he was giving expensive “gifts” to Cohen.
Milchan is one of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s billionaire friends.
Haaretz cited local media as reporting that, during Cohen’s leave without pay from the Israeli espionage agency between 2000 to 2002, he was employed by a technology firm owned by entrepreneur Moti Shniberg.
The Israeli newspaper noted that Cohen returned to the Mossad in 2002. Since then, he reportedly met Milchan many times.
Israeli media said that Cohen granted Milchan a position close to him when he was the head of the Israeli National Security Council under Netanyahu’s administration.
The spymaster was appointed by Netanyahu to head up the Mossad in 2015, which surprised some as he got the job over two more qualified candidates, Haaretz said, leading to suspicion that the Israeli premier’s decision was due to a deal between the two men.
In an earlier investigation, Haaretz described ties between Cohen and Milchan as being more complex than friendly conversations over Mossad business.
It pointed out that Milchan, along with Australian billionaire James Packer, tried to recruit Cohen as a partner in a cyber security firm they planned to set up.
The venture did not go forward and Cohen was instead appointed Mossad chief.
