State attorney will not represent PM over submarine affair

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have a private lawyer represent him in front the High Court of Justice in an appeal over the submarine affair, Israel Radio reports.

The state’s attorney announce that they will not represent him, but note that this is not an exceptional decision and there have been similar instances in the past, the report says.

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel is petitioning the court to have the attorney general explain why he has not ordered a criminal investigation in the submarine affair in which Netanyahu’s personal lawyer allegedly swayed multi-billion shekel deals in favor of the German shipbuilder he was representing.

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has so far only ordered a preliminary probe, which is not yet a full-blown investigation, into the issue amid allegations that Netanyahu and attorney David Shimron may have acted with a conflict of interest in the affair.