Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust.
Prosecutors say that Mr Netanyahu accepted gifts from wealthy individuals and employed enticements so as to get positive coverage in the press.
He insists that the charges levelled against him are politically motivated and are part of a witch hunt.
Netanyahu has said that he will not tender his resignation in the wake of the devastating array of allegations he faces.
Israel law does not provide for him to resign unless he is found guilty of the crimes for which he is accused.
The development could not have come at a more fraught time.
It comes in the wake of two inconclusive elections that have seen the embattled Israel leader unable to command a majority needed to form a government.
Netanyahu is fighting for his political survival which some analysts have tied to the criminal case against him.
Israel Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit had been doing investigations into the allegations that the country's longest-serving Prime Minister has been facing and handed his indictment on Thursday.
Avichai said that Netanyahu would be charged in all the cases for which he has been investigated.
The question exercising minds in Israel is whether an indicted Benjamin Netanyahu is eligible to form a government.