The chances of the Israeli-German sub deal falling through are increasing, a source at the German firm ThyssenKrupp has said.
The German newspaper Handelsblatt printed on Monday an interview with the source, who said that INS Dakar, Israel’s sixth sub due to be delivered in 2019, will likely be the last one to be built in Germany’s Kiel shipyards for Israel.
He said he expected the deal to sell Israel three additional subs, which are at the center of controversy lately, to be canceled.
Last week, Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit ordered a police investigation into the scandal.
A statement from the Justice Ministry said that the decision to investigate was made after receiving additional information gathered while investigating a top security official on suspicion of bribery.
According to police sources, the probe will initially focus on the deal to purchase ships to defend Israel’s natural gas off-shore platforms.
On Sunday, it was revealed that David Shimron, Prime Minister Benjmanin Netanyahu’s lawyer, received some 700,000 shekels for representing Miki Ganor, ThyssenKrupp’s representative in Israel.
Shimron has represented Ganor over the past five years in various cases, some of which involved the naval deals with Germany and some on other issues, like real estate.
Haaretz discovered that Shimron’s fees stood at 715,000 shekels for representing Ganur since 2012.
Based on this sum, Shimron would have received $3,000 every month for his work.
According to attorney Ya’akov Winrot, who claims to be Shimron’s lawyer, the appointment of Ganor as the representative for the German shipyards was made without any involvement from Shimron.
