Witness says Netanyahu was asked to promote submarine deal – report
Attorney David Shimron, a confidant of the prime minister who represented a German shipbuilder, said to have sought his help
Michael Bachner is a news editor at The Times of Israel
Benjamin Netanyahu’s personal lawyer and cousin David Shimron sought help from the prime minister in advancing a deal to purchase submarines from a German corporation, a state witness in the investigation has alleged, according to the Hebrew-language Yedioth Ahronoth daily. Netanyahu rejected the report and denied any involvement.
The new information came from state witness Miki Ganor, Tuesday’s report said, and could lead to Netanyahu being summoned for the first time for questioning in the investigation, known as Case 3000. The information was leaked despite authorities having stated in the past that Netanyahu is not a suspect in the case.
On Friday, Hadashot TV news said Netanyahu will be asked to give testimony in the coming weeks, adding that he will be questioned generally and then, later, possibly as a suspect too.
The investigation is focused on suspicions that state officials were bribed to influence a decision to purchase four patrol boats and three Dolphin-class submarines, at a total cost of 2 billion euros (NIS 8.4 billion), from ThyssenKrupp, despite opposition to the deal from the Defense Ministry.
Police suspect that Yitzchak Molcho, Netanyahu’s chief negotiator and personal envoy for over a decade, tried to push the submarine deal during his diplomatic trips abroad, while Shimron, Molcho’s legal partner, sought to promote the interests of the German shipbuilders within Israel.
Shimron has already been questioned several times as part of the investigation by Lahav 433, the police anti-corruption unit. In addition to his work with Netanyahu, he served as a lawyer for Ganor, who was ThyssenKrupp’s local representative and turned state witness in July. He is considered a key suspect in the case.
According to Tuesday’s report, Ganor told investigators that he had hired Shimron because of his ties to senior government officials, especially Netanyahu. He said Shimron had told him he had involved Netanyahu in the affair.
To maintain secrecy, Ganor and Shimron would speak about the matter using code words, the report said. For instance, Netanyahu was nicknamed “the friend,” while Molcho, who is married to Shimron’s sister, was referred to as “the brother-in-law.”
According to Ganor’s testimony, on one occasion he asked Shimron how his efforts to lobby for the Thyssenkrupp deal with the Defense Ministry were coming along, and requested that he involve Netanyahu. Shimron then replied, “I will ask the brother-in-law, and he’ll speak to the friend,” Ganor reportedly said.
Other evidence held by police reportedly points to a meeting held by Shimron and Netanyahu in the seaside town of Caesarea, where the prime minister’s private residence is located. The two discussed the purchase of the submarines, and Shimron later reported to Ganor about the meeting.
Shimron has categorically denied involving Netanyahu in the affair, while the prime minister’s version of events hasn’t yet been heard. Investigators have been unable to pinpoint a specific action by Netanyahu to promote the deal, but they contend that existing evidence justifies summoning him for questioning, despite Attorney General Avichai Mandelblitt having blocked that option in the past, the report said.
“This issue has been around almost since the beginning of the probe,” one law enforcement official was quoted as saying, “and it seems like just a matter of time before the attorney general approves such a measure.”
Netanyahu’s office dismissed the Yedioth report, calling it “another biased leak in an attempt to harm the prime minister.”
“The prime minister doesn’t know Ganor and knew nothing about any ties between Ganor and David Shimron or Thyssenkrupp. Shimron and Molcho never spoke on the matter with the prime minister. All decisions on submarines and watercraft were taken in normal and recorded procedures, and the prime minister’s only considerations on this matter and others were Israel’s security and its benefit,” a statement to the paper read.
Shimron did not comment on the report.
Moshe Ya’alon, who as defense minister at the time opposed the deal and has announced his intention to challenge Netanyahu, said in June that the submarine affair marked the first time he had considered the prime minister to be corrupt.
“This was the straw that broke the camel’s back with Netanyahu,” Ya’alon said at an event in the southern city of Beersheba. “I had never suspected that he was corrupt. But then he went behind the back of the chief of staff and the head of the navy to sign the deal with (German Chancellor Angela) Merkel, when the whole professional consensus — from the navy to the Defense Ministry — was that we needed five submarines, not six.”
Avi Gabbay, the leader of the opposition Zionist Union faction, said Monday that Netanyahu must take a leave of absence if he is declared a suspect in the investigation.
Speaking at the faction’s weekly meeting, Gabbay said that the investigation is “undoubtedly one of the most serious corruption cases we have ever had, as it involves people closest to the prime minister acting within an utter conflict of interest between the good of the state and their own clients.
“A prime minister who is investigated as a criminal suspect in a bribery case regarding security matters must announce a leave of absence until the end of the investigation and cannot continue to make decisions regarding the security of the State of Israel,” he insisted.
Netanyahu has already been questioned several times in two other investigations where he is a suspect, known as cases 1000 and 2000.
In Case 1000, Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, are suspected of receiving illicit gifts from billionaire benefactors, most notably hundreds of thousands of shekels’ worth of cigars and champagne from the Israeli-born Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan.
Case 2000 involves a suspected illicit quid-pro-quo deal between Netanyahu and Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper publisher Arnon Mozes that would have seen the prime minister weaken a rival daily, the Sheldon Adelson-backed Israel Hayom, in return for more favorable coverage from Yedioth.
Netanyahu has denied wrongdoing in both cases.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
