Officials close criminal probe of cybersecurity firm formerly headed by Gantz
State attorney says no evidence of causal link between erroneous information provided by Fifth Dimension and police’s provision of a $1 million grant secured by firm
The State Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday that it decided to close a criminal investigation into the dealings of a now-bankrupt company that had been chaired by National Unity leader and former defense minister Benny Gantz.
A State Comptroller’s report in 2019 raised suspicions that Gantz’s Fifth Dimension cybersecurity company presented the Israel Police with misleading information that helped the latter secure a NIS 4 million ($1.12 million) grant for an artificial intelligence product it was developing in 2015.
However, State Attorney Amit Aisman said in a Tuesday statement from his office that after an “exhaustive examination” of the issues, he decided to close the case.
Aisman said that the evidence gathered in the investigation did not establish a causal link between the erroneous information provided by Fifth Dimension and the police’s provision of the grant to the company.
He also found that the erroneous information did not amount to misrepresentations sufficient for criminal prosecution.
The investigation was launched by then-acting state attorney Dan Eldad in the dying days of the March 2020 election campaign, held after the electoral stalemate of the April and September 2019 elections.
The decision to probe the firm came under fierce criticism by law enforcement and state prosecution officials. Gantz, who was not a suspect in the case, has said that he believed the investigation had a “political aroma.”
In December 2018, after just three years, the company went bankrupt, having burned through millions of dollars from investors.
