Court Frees State’s Witness in Submarine Case

The Lod District Court accepted Thursday the appeal filed by Mickey Ganor’s defense attorneys against a ruling by the Rishon LeTzion Magistrate’s Court to extend his remand by five days.

The judge decided that Ganor will remain in custody until noon on Friday, and then be released to house arrest until Monday. Ganor was forbidden to make contact with other parties in his case and had to pay a bond of NIS 100,000 ($270,000). The police will appeal to the Supreme Court.

Ganor, a former agent in Israel for the German shipbuilder Thyssenkrupp, signed an agreement with prosecutors in July 2017 to cooperate in the probe, which focused on the period he worked for the company between 2009 and 2017. He has admitted to bribing a string of senior officials in order to help secure contracts for Thyssenkrupp with Israel’s Defense Ministry.

In return for Ganor’s cooperation with investigators, prosecutors agreed to set aside the major corruption charges against him and seek punishment only for his tax offenses in the case. The punishment included a 12-month prison sentence and a fine of NIS 10 million (roughly $2.7 million).

Prosecutors are reportedly considering stripping him of his state’s witness status, a step that would remove his immunity from prosecution in the case.