Israeli PM Netanyahu's 'Close Associate' Among Six Detained in German Submarine Bribery Affair

Israeli police has detained six suspects including Israeli PM Netanyahu's 'Close Associate' in German Submarine Bribery Affair.

The six suspects were government officials and worked in the private sector at the time of the submarine deal, police said. Three of the suspects are senior officials and one is close associate of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They were detained on suspicion of bribery, fraud, money laundering, and tax offenses, Jerusalem Post reported Monday.

Questions over the 2014 submarine deal surfaced in November with a Channel 10 report that Netanyahu’s personal lawyer David Shimron worked as an intermediary for Miki Ganor, the Israeli representative of the German shipbuilder ThyssenKrupp. 

Shimron is reportedly suspected of pushing to buy some $1.5 billion in submarines from the German firm over the objections of the defense establishment, including then-defense minister Moshe Ya’alon.

Shimron has denied any wrongdoing in the case. Netanyahu, who is not a suspect in the case, has also denied any wrongdoing.

In February, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit authorized a full-blow criminal investigation into the submarine affair, stating that police gathered enough evidence to raise suspicions, “that some of those involved in the affair committed crimes of public corruption.”