State witness in submarine graft probe agrees to extend house arrest — report

The state witness in a graft probe into a multi-billion shekel deal to purchase naval vessels from Germany has reportedly agreed to an extension of his house arrest in order to complete his testimony.

Despite the passage of the time allotted for Miki Ganor to provide testimony in the case, the extension of his house arrest at a police college in Beit Shemesh will allow Ganor to continue providing investigators with information on allegedly corrupt naval and business deals, Channel 2 reported Tuesday.

Upon the completion of Ganor’s testimony, police are expected to summon for questioning a number of other known suspects in the case, as well as a number of individuals who have not yet been publicly linked to the corruption investigation, according to Channel 2.

Ganor, a former agent for the German submarine company Thyssenkrupp, is suspected of giving bribes in connection with a decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to buy three submarines from the Germany company in a deal reached despite opposition from the Defense Ministry.

Last month, Ganor claimed his lawyer David Shimron — who is also Netanyahu’s cousin and personal attorney — was to receive 20 percent of his own commission of $45 million, Channel 2 and Channel 10 reported.

Shimron was hired by Ganor to negotiate the ship and submarine purchases.

This allegedly contradicts a statement given on behalf of Shimron by his lawyers Yaakov Weinroth and Amit Hadad, that Shimron was not going to receive a cut from the deal other than his legal fees.

Channel 10 reported that in exchange for his share of the commission, Shimron was tasked with ensuring that certain undisclosed clauses were inserted into the memorandum of understanding between Israel and Germany for the purchase of the vessels.

In response to the reports, Shimron’s lawyers said “these claims are so far removed from the truth that it is inconceivable that the state witness presented them to the police.”

“At any rate, for the duration of the time Shimron represented Miki Ganor, he acted in the role of an attorney and all of his actions were in accordance with the law.”

Ganor and Shimron are among six suspects brought in for questioning in July as part of the investigation. They are suspected of attempting to sway deals in favor of ThyssenKrupp. Two other suspects are former deputy head of the National Security Council Avriel Bar-Yosef and former commander of the Israeli Navy Maj. Gen. (res) Eliezer Marom.

The suspects were questioned under caution on suspicion of fraud, bribery, tax evasion and money laundering, the Israel Police and the Tax Authority said in a joint statement.

Netanyahu is not a suspect in the case. However, police are planning to summon him to testify on what he knows about the affair.