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Danny Ayalon, who served as the deputy to former-Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman testified yesterday in the trial which sees Lieberman defending charges of fraud and breach of trust.

Lieberman, who remains an MK and head of the Yisrael Beitenu party, is accused of failing to disclose the receipt of illicit information relating to separate allegations against him, from Israel’s former ambassador to Belarus, Zeev Ben Aryeh. It is alleged that Lieberman then pushed through the appointment of Ben Aryeh as the envoy to Latvia as a reward for his actions. Should Lieberman be found guilty of charges deemed to carry moral turpitude or handed a prison sentence of three months or longer, he will be barred from running for Knesset or serving as a government minister for seven years following the completion of a potential prison sentence.

Yesterday, in the Jerusalem magistrate’s court, the prosecution called Danny Ayalon, considered to be its star witness. Ayalon was Lieberman’s long-time deputy minister and was dramatically omitted by Lieberman from the Yisrael Beitenu list of Knesset candidates for January’s election. During his testimony, Ayalon recalled meeting Lieberman before the ministry’s appointments committee convened to discuss Ben Aryeh’s posting. Ayalon said, “I was in his office, we discussed political matters and by the end of the talk he told me that Ben Aryeh must be appointed to the Riga post.” Ben Aryeh has already testified in the case while two members of the appointments committee, Yossi Gal and Shimon Roded told the court that they do not recall whether Lieberman’s associates approached them regarding Ben Aryeh’s post.

During yesterday’s proceedings, Ayalon rejected allegations that his testimony was revenge for Lieberman’s decision to omit hit from the party’s Knesset list. The defence is expected to now present its case with the trial concluding before the end of June. A verdict must then be given within thirty days.