Israel's state prosecutor said Thursday that it plans to indict seven men, including close associates of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in the submarine graft case that has rattled the defense establishment.
Dubbed "Case 3,000," the scandal centers on a possible conflict of interest surrounding the 2 billion euro procurement of submarines and naval vessels from German conglomerate ThyssenKrupp in 2016.
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In a statement, the Justice Ministry said prosecutors accepted recommendations police made last year on the indictments in the case.
Netanyahu was questioned, but not named as a suspect, in the submarine probe.
The suspects in Case 3,000 include Netanyahu's attorney and cousin David Shimron, former National Security Council Deputy Director Avriel Bar-Yosef, Israeli businessman Miki Ganor, who was the German company's representative in Israel, former Israeli Navy Commander Vice Adm. (ret.) Eliezer Marom, Shay Brosh, former commander of the navy's elite Shayetet 13 commando unit, and David Sharan, who served as the prime minister's bureau chief between late 2014 and mid-2016.
Pending pre-trial hearings, Shimron will be charged with money laundering. Sharan, Marom and Ganor will face that charge as well as bribery, the ministry said.
Netanyahu, who was in Lisbon on a state visit, had no comment on the indictments.
Thyssenkrupp has said an internal probe found no evidence of corruption in its handling of the 2016 contract for the sale of three submarines to Israel, and Israeli prosecutors have taken no action against the conglomerate.
