Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Friday he will quit his post because of a pending indictment against him for fraud and breach of trust, DPA reported
"Even though I know I did nothing wrong ... I have decided to resign from my position as foreign minister and deputy prime minister so I can clear my name without delay," he said.
Lieberman said he was quitting even though his legal team said he did not have to.
The announcement came a day after Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein declared his intention to prosecute Lieberman for allegedly receiving classified information from a former ambassador to Belarus on an investigation against him.
Weinstein closed the main case against Lieberman, for which he faced charges of money laundering, fraud and breach of trust, citing lack of clear-cut evidence.
It was unclear whether Lieberman would still run in the country's January 22 parliamentary elections.
Nevertheless, his resignation statement suggested a return to politics: "I believe the citizens of Israel have the right to go to the ballots after this whole issue is put to rest, meaning after the matter is settled in court, and I can continue to serve the public and the state as part of a strong and united leadership."
Legally, Lieberman is not prohibited from running in the elections, but if convicted cannot hold a cabinet post.
Israel Radio reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wished Lieberman luck in proving his innocence so that he can quickly return and fill a senior cabinet position.
Netanyahu will likely assume the foreign affairs portfolio until Lieberman's future is clarified.
Lieberman, chairman of the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beteinu party, recently signed a deal with Netanyahu's Likud party to field a joint list of candidates in the in the upcoming elections.
Pre-election polls indicate the joint list is expected to emerge as the largest faction in parliament. It is uncertain what ramifications Lieberman's resignation will have on the vote.
Bearded, burly and, to his critics, determinedly bellicose, Lieberman was born in what is now Moldova in 1958, and immigrated to Israel in 1978.
In 1988 he first teamed up with Netanyahu, and when the latter became premier in 1996, Lieberman served as the director-general of the prime minister's office.
He broke with Netanyahu in 1997, and two years later formed Yisrael Beteinu (Israel Our Home), a party which drew its core support from immigrants form the former Soviet Union. The party won four seats in that year's Israeli elections.
Lieberman has continually espoused hard-line positions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, uttering hawkish statements sceptical of the chances of a peace accord ever being signed.
In the 2009 elections, his party campaigned almost exclusively on what it called the "radicalization" of Israel's Arab minority, saying Arab Israelis should be stripped of their citizenship if they show no "loyalty" to Israel.
Yisrael Beteinu emerged as the third largest party in the elections, with 15 seats and became Netanyahu's largest coalition partner, with the foreign ministry post going to Lieberman.
Married, with two sons and a daughter, he lives in the Nokdim settlement in the southern West Bank.