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Gantz expected to face investigation after Knesset election

Gantz is not, at least for now, said to be suspected of any wrongdoing on his own part.

By World Israel News Staff 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s main challenger in the March 2 Knesset election, Blue and White leader MK Benny Gantz, is expected to face police questioning after the election takes place, according to multiple media reports.

Though Gantz is not, at least for now, said to be suspected of any wrongdoing on his own part, the investigation centers around a now-bankrupt cybersecurity company called Fifth Dimension, formerly headed by the Blue and White leader.

The investigation will look into the effort by Fifth Dimension to interest Israel Police in a cyber technology project. According to a report by the state comptroller, the project was accepted without a proper bidding process conducted to determine if the company’s proposal was, in fact, worthwhile.

The latest development of the expected questioning of Gantz after the parliamentary election was reported by Channel 13 TV on Wednesday, though The Jerusalem Post says that it has verified details of the report.

A key question remains open regarding the presentation of the technology project to police, says The Post, in that it is still not clear “whether Fifth Dimension made false representations to police, or whether officials within the police cooked up their own internal documents which they said were based on Fifth Dimension representations, even though Fifth Dimension might not have actually made them.”

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State Comptroller Joseph Shapira’s report which dealt with the matter was released in March 2019.

Gantz told Israel’s Army Radio on Thursday: “I am totally calm. The matter has already been checked and was not found to have included any suspicion of criminal activity.”

The challenger for the premiership added that he had not heard of any intention to call him in for questioning after the election.

“It all sounds to me like political pressure that is putting things on the agenda,” he added.

“It is a sad evening for the State of Israel,” said Netanyahu on Wednesday night in response to the media report of the investigation into the activities of Fifth Dimension and the questioning to be faced by Gantz.

Netanyahu is himself scheduled to go on trial in March after he was indicted on charges of accepting benefits from wealthy supporters and a willingness to grant favors for better coverage in the media of his activities as prime minister.