Israeli prosecutor Shai Nitzan decided late Monday to open a criminal investigation into Israel’s purchase of three submarines from a German company Haaretz Hebrew newspaper revealed on Tuesday.
An inquiry into Israel’s purchase of three submarines from a German company will now be a criminal investigation Nitzan announced Monday although Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not a suspect the paper wrote.
“The decision was made based on information collected by the police during the inquiry in recent months and in light of evidence raising a reasonable suspicion against some of those involved in the affair of committing public bribery offenses” Nitzan’s office stated.
Nitzan based his decision in part on the opinion of Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit according to the sources.
The main suspicion is that David Shimron Netanyahu’s cousin and personal lawyer represented Michael Ganor a representative of ThyssenKrupp.
The German company recently signed a memorandum of understanding to build three submarines for the Israeli navy. Netanyahu had initially pushed for the navy to add three new submarines to its fleet and Israel negotiated with ThyssenKrupp in 2015. Additionally Netanyahu sought to acquire two anti-submarine boats.
Israeli Army Minister Moshe Ya’alon opposed expanding the fleet to nine as well as the anti-submarine boat acquisition and the matter was dropped. Last October the Israeli cabinet approved the replacement of three old submarines with the new ones.
