After the announced indictment of Israel’s right-wing conservative prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu now one of his closest confidants to be indicted – albeit in a different cause. Netanyahu’s personal legal advisor and relative David Schimron is suspected of money laundering in the affair of a million-dollar submarine business with Germany.
According to legal practice in Israel, before a final decision on an indictment, there must be a hearing of the suspects. Shimron is not only Netanyahu’s lawyer, but he also represented businessman Miki Ganor.
Charge: Utilized proximity to Netanyahu
Ganor was an Israeli distribution partner for ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) and was able to count on millions of euros in a deal. Ganor was initially a key witness in the affair. Now he is to be charged with, inter alia, for bribery and money laundering.
The police, after completing the investigation, assumed that Shimron was using his proximity to the prime minister to push the deal. He should have received payments amounting to the equivalent of 64,000 euros to „open doors“. Shimron had rejected the allegations in the past.
Netanyahu was interviewed in the affair, but was not considered a suspect. He was accused of having enforced the submarine business against the will of the military and the Ministry of Defense.
New election practically fix
It is unclear what the announced indictment means for the political tug-of-war over a new government. It is unlikely that this will be the decisive factor. Because of the stalemate between the center-right camp around Netanyahu and the center-left camp around Blue-and-white boss Benni Ganz, new elections are now considered almost fixed. In a few days, a statutory deadline expires. Then it comes for the third time within a few months to a new election.
