Former Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s defense team said on Wednesday that the chances for a plea deal in his corruption trial with Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit are very small, Ynet reports. Netanyahu has pleaded not guilty to charges of bribery, breach of trust and fraud in three cases for which he was indicted in 2019 and accused prosecutors of a politically motivated witch-hunt. His trial, which began last year, is being conducted at the Jerusalem District Court.

The defense team’s unofficial announcement came two days after sources said Netanyahu has given his defense team a green light to keep pursuing a plea deal with Mandelblit, whose tenure as attorney general is set to end in 12 days. However, Ynet reports, Mandelblit and his senior staff headed by the lead prosecutor in the case Liat Ben Ari, appear unwilling to compromise on a moral turpitude clause of the plea deal that would see Netanyahu barred from Knesset for seven years. As a result, Netanyahu’s attorneys, Boaz Ben Zur and Amit Hadad, believe that at this point in time it is better for the former premier to end negotiations before Mandelblit is replaced.

The Justice Ministry also estimated that the chance of reaching a plea deal between the former prime minister and the outgoing attorney general before his retirement is slim.

{Matzav.com Israel}