Israeli police arrest telecom officials in graft case

Israeli police say they have arrested senior officials at the country's national telephone company as part of an investigation into alleged corruption offenses. The Israeli daily Haaretz says police are investigating a possible relationship between the company, Bezeq, its controlling shareholder and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. According to Channel 2 TV, the case alleges that Netanyahu received favourable coverage from the Walla news site, a Bezeq subsidiary, in exchange for regulation that earned Elovitch hundreds of millions of shekels. The channel says two people arrested are Netanyahu associates and that Netanyahu is expected to be questioned. Police said it launched the probe yesterday. The development comes days after police announced there was sufficient evidence to indict Netanyahu for bribery, fraud and breach of trust in two separate cases.