not everywhere· Security· Updated 14:49

Submarine Affair Defendant Tzachi Liber Found Guilty of Bribery Facilitation

The Tel Aviv District Court convicted strategic and communication advisor Tzachi Liber on Monday of mediating bribery, money laundering, and aiding in the preparation of false records in the submarine affair, also known as Case 3000.

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Submarine Affair Defendant Tzachi Liber Found Guilty of Bribery Facilitation — Illustration by baba

What happened

01The Tel Aviv District Court convicted strategic advisor Tzachi Liber on Monday of mediating bribery, money laundering, and falsifying records in the submarine affair.
02Judge Shmuel Melamed ruled that Liber facilitated approximately 94,000 shekels in bribes from ThyssenKrupp representative Mickey Ganon to David Sharan.
03David Sharan, who previously served as the head of the Prime Minister's Office staff, currently serves as the director-general of the Likud party.
04The court found that the bribe payments were funneled through shell companies and fictitious invoices to disguise them as legitimate consulting fees.
05The court rejected Liber's defense that the funds were for actual consulting services, ruling that the work was fictitious.
06Liber's case was prosecuted and handled separately from the main indictment in Case 3000.
07The conviction follows recent summonses for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials to testify before the state commission investigating the affair.

Judge Shmuel Melamed ruled that Liber acted as a conduit to transfer approximately 94,000 shekels in bribes from Mickey Ganon, the Israeli representative of the German conglomerate ThyssenKrupp, to public servant David Sharan. Sharan's public roles included serving as the head of the Prime Minister's Office staff, and he currently serves as the director-general of the Likud party. The bribe was intended to advance the acquisition of naval vessels from ThyssenKrupp.

According to the court, Ganon made two payments, totaling 93,900 shekels, to companies controlled by Liber and his partner, N.Z.T. Communications and Ness Mor Holdings, in November 2014 and August 2016. The funds were funneled using shell companies and fictitious invoices to disguise the bribe as consulting fees. The court rejected Liber's defense that the payments were for legitimate consulting services, calling them fictitious, and upheld the validity of his police confessions.

Liber's indictment was processed separately from the main proceedings in Case 3000. The conviction comes shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, and former President Reuven Rivlin were summoned to testify next month before the state commission investigating the affair.

Summarized by baba from the reports of 7 newsrooms. Updated 15:26