Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attorney and cousin David Shimron on Monday told Reshet Bet radio there’s no doubt he had committed no offense in the Case 3,000 affair, a.k.a. the submarines case, and he hopes the legal system would be persuaded.
Case 3000 involves three Dolphin-class submarines and four Sa’ar 6-class corvettes purchased by Israel from the Thyssenkrupp AG, a German multinational conglomerate with focus on industrial engineering and steel production, in the years 2009 – 2017.
Investigators in this case suspect that bribery was involved in tilting the deal in Thyssenkrupp’s favor, in return for the personal gain of several people, including Netanyahu’s cousin and personal lawyer David Shimron, who also represented the German company in Israel. The PM himself is no longer a suspect in Case 3000.
At the conclusion of the investigation, Police declared there was consolidated evidence justifying the indictment of several suspects on bribery, fraud, money laundering and other charges.
The open investigation was conducted in three major waves of arresting and interrogating suspects throughout 2017. On July 10, police detained six people suspected of bribery, fraud, tax evasion and money laundering. Three of them – businessman Mickey Ganor, Navy Brigadier General (res.) Avriel Bar Yosef, and Attorney Ronen Shemer, were arrested. Attorney David Shimron was sent to house arrest.
The next day, police detained former Commander of the Navy, General Eli Marom for interrogation and he was placed under house arrest.
Marom received a regular monthly payment from Ganor for consulting services provided to Ganor’s companies.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s name came up in the media in connection with this affair, but the State Attorney announced that Netanyahu was not a suspect.
On July 20, 2017, Michael Ganor, who served as Thyssenkrupp’s representative in Israel at the relevant time period, signed a state’s witness deal. According to the deal, Ganor would stand trial, be convicted of tax offenses and serve a sentence of one year in prison and pay a fine of 10 million shekel.
On September 3, 2017, Police arrested six people, including the Prime Minister’s former chief of staff David Sharan, former Minister Eliezer Zandberg, former navy seal unit Shayetet 13 Commander Brig. Gen.(res.) Shay Brosh, as well as former Navy commander Eli Marom who was re-arrested.
Former National Security Council deputy chairwoman Atalia Rosenbaum and two associates of Minister Yuval Steinitz (Likud) – Gershon Hakim and Aviad Shay, were also interrogated.
In November 2017, Shimron’s partner, Yitzhak Molcho, a close and trusted Netanyahu advisor, was interrogated as well. Police eventually stated there was no suspicion of wrongdoing against Molcho.
On April 1, 2018, Minister Steinitz testified in the affair. On June 12, 2018, Netanyahu testified.
On March 19, 2019, the state witness Ganor asked to change his testimony, claiming that the money he had transferred was not a bribe. He also complained that he had been pressured to turn state witness. He was subsequently arrested and questioned with a warning by the police National Unit for Combating Economic Crime.
On Monday, Attorney Shimron was asked by Reshet Bet radio about his involvement in Case 3000, and said, “When a decision is reached, I will respond accordingly. I hope the decision is positive. I haven’t gone into depression before and I’m not euphoric in light of the rumors now. I will act in accordance with the [prosecution’s] decision.”
