State Comptroller Yosef Shapira said Wednesday that his office has found "significant failings" in the Israel Police's dealings with a company reported to be a failed startup once headed by prime minister hopeful Benny Gantz.
Shapira said the police's acquisition of nearly NIS 50 million ($14 million) of technology from the Fifth Dimension in 2016 violated standard procedures.
According to the report, police waived a public tender and granted the company, which went out of business two years ago, the contract.
Gantz's Blue and White Party says the former army chief of staff's conduct was "impeccable."
The State Comptroller report said it criticized only the police's management, not private companies.
Likud officials, meanwhile, have asked Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit to launch an immediate investigation into the matter.
"Gantz illegally contacted former Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh in an attempt to fraudulently take NIS 50 million of the public's money for the Fifth Dimension which he headed," the officials said. "According to the State Comptroller's report, Gantz's company lied to the public tenders committee, Gantz and Alsheikh acted without transparency, and Gantz's company caused the police to lose NIS 4 million – a loss that would have ballooned to NIS 50 million had Gantz not gone bankrupt beforehand."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted: "Investigate Gantz now."
Tourism Minister Yariv Levin (Likud) said, "What hypocrisy, what a mockery of the public, what a double standard. This isn't just a serious case of corruption involving the police, but Gantz, who is vying for the premiership, and according to the report exploited his contacts for wrongdoing. The public will not agree to unequal enforcement of the law."
