Israel’s attorney general Avichai Mandelblit has ordered police to launch an investigation into a scandal involving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the billion-dollar purchase of three submarines from Germany.
The order came in the wake of “new evidence” from the case of former deputy Security Council head Avriel Bar-Yosef showing “a serious conflict of interest” on the part of Netanyahu.
Bar-Yosef was arrested earlier this month on charges of corruption and taking bribes.
Reports emerged last week that Netanyahu’s personal lawyer and one of closest confidants David Shimron was representing the German arms manufacturer ThyssenKrupp which is making the submarines.
Israel’s Hebrew-language Channel 10 television network later disclosed an email it claimed was proof that Shimron used his close relationship with Netanyahu to lobby for the deal.
