A confidant of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to turn state's witness in one of several corruption investigations posing a serious threat to the conservative leader's political survival, local media said. 

The confidant, Shlomo Filber, was arrested this week along with top executives at Bezeq Telecom, Israel's largest telecommunications company. He was appointed by Netanyahu to head the Communications Ministry.

Police allege Bezeq received regulatory benefits, and in return, Netanyahu enjoyed favourable media coverage. Bezeq executives have denied the allegations.

Netanyahu is also accused of receiving bribes from a wealthy businessman, and trying to win favourable coverage from a newspaper by working to curtail the circulation of its rival.

In another case revealed this week, one of Netanyahu's former spokesmen is alleged to have tried to bribe a judge to block a case against Netanyahu's wife for spending state money on personal catering.

Netanyahu is awaiting a decision by the attorney-general on whether to indict him as police recommended last week.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.