Submarine Affair Defendant Tzachi Liber Found Guilty of Bribery Facilitation

The Tel Aviv District Court has found Tzachi Liber, a defendant in the "Case 3000" submarine and naval vessel procurement scandal, guilty of facilitating bribery, money laundering, and aiding in the falsification of accounting records. Liber's indictment was handled separately from the main "Case 3000" proceedings. This verdict comes days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, former Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, and others received summonses to testify before a state investigative commission on the matter next month, according to Kan News. The court's ruling stated that Liber received approximately 94,000 shekels from Miki Ganor, intended as a bribe for public servant David Sharan. The funds were funneled through shell companies and fake invoices, disguising the payments as legitimate consultancy fees for services never rendered. Liber's defense that these were valid consultancy payments was rejected by the court. The court determined that Liber's confessions to the police were corroborated by Ganor's testimony and additional financial evidence detailing the bribery mechanism and concealment of its origins. The defense's attempt to invalidate Liber's testimony due to investigators' conduct was also dismissed, with the verdict noting Liber remained calm, controlled his statements, and acted deliberately during interrogations, giving his confessions freely and voluntarily.