Israel's attorney general orders investigation over German submarine deal

Israel's attorney general on Wednesday ordered the police to launch an investigation into possible misconducts in a huge military deal to buy submarines from a German company.

The so-called "submarine affair" has been stirring the nation after media reports revealed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's personal attorney, Dan Shimron, was involved in as representing the German submarine maker, ThyssenKrupp.

In a statement on Wednesday evening, the Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit announced that he instructed the police to start an investigation into the affair.

A statement by the Justice Ministry said the decision was made "in the wake of new information received from the police and further developments."

The move came also after heavy public pressure and calls by the opposition to open an investigation into conflict of interests and graft by Netanyahu and Shimron.

According to reports on the Hebrew-language Channel 10, Shimron was involved in a 1.5 billion U.S. dollar deal between the Israeli government and ThyssenKrupp to buy six submarines, with the last vessel scheduled to arrive in 2018.

Recently, the government decided to order three more submarines from the company.

Former security minister, Moshe Ya'alon, said he objected the purchase of the submarines, saying there was no security justification for the procurement. The deal was completed after Ya'alon was replaced. Endit