The German shipbuilder at the center of a criminal investigation into suspected fraud in the multi-billion-shekel sale of naval vessels to Israel says an internal probe unearthed no “concrete indications of corruption.”
“Based on the investigative measures we were able to carry out, we found no concrete indications of corruption – neither with regard to submarine projects, nor in connection with the procurement of corvettes,” ThyssenKrupp says in a statement, according to Reuters.
“However, these investigation results are explicitly provisional,” the German steel giant adds, saying that its probe was limited by its inability to conduct an investigation in Israel and lack of investigatory powers that legal authorities have.
Benjamin Netanyahu touring the INS Tanin submarine, built by the German firm ThyssenKrupp, as it arrived in Israel on September 23, 2014. (Kobi Gideon/GPO/Flash90)
The police investigation centers on suspicions that ThyssenKrupp’s representative in Israel, Micki Ganor, along with former National Security Council deputy head Avriel Bar-Yosef, paid out bribes in connection with a decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to buy three submarines from ThyssenKrupp despite opposition from the Defense Ministry.
— Alexander Fulbright
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