A former top aide to Benjamin Netanyahu has taken the stand for the first time against the former Israeli prime minister engulfed in corruption charges over a scheme to generate positive news coverage.

Israel.- Taking the stand on Wednesday, Shlomo Filber, the director of the Communications Ministry under Netanyahu and one of two former aides to testify for the prosecution, said Netanyahu wanted him to “mitigate” competition for Israel's Bezeq telecom company, a move worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

In return, Bezeq's popular news site, Walla, allegedly provided favorable coverage of Netanyahu and his family.

Netanyahu, now opposition leader in Israel's parliament, denies any wrongdoing and says the charges of fraud, breach of trust, and bribery amount to a witch hunt.

Like the previous aide-turned-state witness, Nir Hefetz, Filber described the former Israeli premier as being image-obsessed.

Netanyahu is charged in three separate cases. The first alleges that Netanyahu received gifts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from wealthy associates.

In the second case, Netanyahu is accused of orchestrating positive coverage in a major Israeli paper in exchange for promoting legislation that would have harmed the news outlet's chief rival, a free pro-Netanyahu daily.

Israeli media has cast the third case as highly dependent on testimony from Filber, dubbed as “the witness without whom Case 4000 might not exist.” (RHC)