Submarine Affair Expands: Conviction for Bribery Mediation of Netanyahu's Former Chief of Staff
Translated & summarized from Maariv by baba
The Tel Aviv District Court convicted Yitzhak Liber of mediating bribery in the "Submarine Affair," involving the promotion of submarine purchases from ThyssenKrupp. Liber received and transferred funds from the company to David Shar'an, former head of staff to Prime Minister Netanyahu. Liber's confessions to police were deemed truthful, leading to his conviction on bribery mediation, illicit property, and tax evasion charges.
The story in 5 lines · by baba
- Yitzhak Liber convicted of mediating bribery in the "Submarine Affair" by Tel Aviv District Court.
- Liber transferred funds from ThyssenKrupp to David Shar'an, former chief of staff to PM Netanyahu.
- Court accepted Liber's initial police confessions as truthful despite later retraction.
- Convictions include bribery mediation, illicit property transfer, and tax evasion.
- The case involves the promotion of submarine purchases from German conglomerate ThyssenKrupp.
A Tel Aviv District Court convicted Yitzhak Liber, a strategic advisor, of mediating bribery in the "Submarine Affair" case. Liber was accused of receiving funds from a representative of the German conglomerate ThyssenKrupp in Israel and transferring them to David Shar'an, who was then the head of staff for Prime Minister Netanyahu, to promote the purchase of submarines from the company.
Both Ganor, a businessman, and Liber, the defendant, admitted to the actions described in the indictment during police investigations. However, they later retracted their confessions, providing different explanations for their changed testimonies. The court's ruling analyzed these explanations and defense claims regarding procedural flaws and insufficient evidence.
The judge stated that based on the totality of the evidence and accepting Liber's police confessions as truthful, his guilt was proven beyond a reasonable doubt. The court found that splitting the charges into two separate offenses for each payment was an artificial division of a single, continuous factual scenario.
Liber was convicted of the central offense of mediating bribery, having received a total of up to 93,900 NIS from Miki Ganor to bribe public servant David Shar'an. Additionally, Liber was convicted of an offense under the illicit property law for his role in transferring prohibited bribe money. He was also found guilty of tax offenses for aiding in the preparation of false records and issuing false invoices through his companies to help Ganor and T.G. Company evade taxes.
