Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz says he is “shocked and stunned” to learn of multiple aides and confidantes under arrest Monday in the growing corruption probe surrounding the acquisition of submarines and patrol vessels for the Israeli Navy.
“This fell on me like lightning on a sunny day. I’m known as one of the most honest people,” Steinitz tells those close to him, according to leaks reported by Channel 2. “No one is more careful with these things.”
Steinitz says he never suspected corruption on the part of suspects — and former advisers and aides — David Sharan and Rami Taib.
Another suspect in the investigation, former deputy national security adviser Avriel Bar Yosef, served as director of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee while Steinitz served as its chairman. Steinitz notes that he appointed Bar Yosef to the post immediately after the retired brigadier general left the army.
“If they call me in for questioning, I’ll come just like any other citizen, and I’ll cooperate,” he reportedly says. “But I believe and hope that nothing will be found” in the probes into Sharan, Taib and Bar Yosef.
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Monday, September 4, 2017
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