Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit is poised to order the police to launch a criminal investigation into alleged conflict of interest with regard to Israel's procurement of three German submarines in 2016, several media reports said Wednesday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not a suspect in the case, the reports said. The purchase of several naval vessels from the German ThyssenKrupp Consortium has been the subject of a lengthy review, dubbed "Case 3,000." Thus far, the heads of the Acquisitions Administration in the Defense Ministry and other senior ministry officials have been questioned in the case, including former Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon and former Israeli Navy Commander Vice Admiral (res.) Ram Rothberg. According to Channel 2 News, ThyssenKrupp's representative in Israel, businessman Miki Ganor, was slated to be questioned, as were Ganor's attorney David Shimron and former Israeli Navy Commander Vice Admiral (res.) Eliezer Marom. The three are expected to be questioned over include their relations with the German shipyard involved in Case 3,000; the cancellation of an existing tender to purchase naval ships and the decision to buy them from Germany; and an attempt to acquire two additional anti-submarine ships. According to various reports, Yaalon's testimony focused on biasing the tender for the ships in ThyssenKrupp's favor, discussions about acquiring three submarines that supposedly that excluded him, and a proposal to purchase two naval warships without the defense establishment holding its routine discussions on the issue. Prior to the reports about developments in Case 3,000, Netanyahu submitted his rebuttal argument to a petition filed in the High Court of Justice by Zionist Union MK Erel Margalit and former legal advisor to the Labor party attorney Eldad Yaniv, which demanded a criminal investigation into the submarines deal be launched and that the precise nature of the allegations brought against Netanyahu in two other police investigations currently underway, as well as in cases that have been closed, be made public. The police are currently investigating to cases involving Netanyahu: Case 1,000, which centers on gifts Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, allegedly received from Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan and others; and Case 2,000, focusing on conversations the prime minister had with Yedioth Ahronoth publisher Arnon Mozes, during which they allegedly discussed striking an illicit deal by which Yedioth would soften its aggressive anti-Netanyahu stance in return for the prime minister using his influence to curtail Israel Hayom's activities in ways that would benefit Yedioth financially. Netanyahu's rebuttal argued that the petition was "nothing more than another coordinated, planned aspect, part of an orderly, motivated plot to harm the prime minister and bring him down." Netanyahu broke down the supposed plotting into three parts: Groups of journalists flooding media outlets with slanderous, baseless reports; cooperation between that group of journalists and politicians to achieve their common goal of toppling the prime minister, and pressuring the attorney general to indict Netanyahu. Also on Wednesday, reports on Case 1000 said that the police were trying to determine whether the prime minister had given Milchan anything in return for latter's supposed gifts. As Milchan is a Channel 10 shareholder, the Second Authority for Television and Radio, which overseas Channel 10's operations, was also looking at any illicit quid pro quo with regards to the case, Channel 2 reported. Both the police and the Second Authority plan to question Channel 10's legal advisor Hila Shamir, as well as other Channel 10 officials. According to the report, investigators were clarifying whether Milchan had tried to extract favors from the government, such as easing Channel 10's licensing conditions, and whether Netanyahu was involved in the issue. The report also said that Milchan had ignored requests to contact the Second Authority, and that he saw his financial investment in Channel 10 as lost.
