Former National Security Council deputy head Brigadier General (res.) Avriel Bar-Yosef is suspected of putting NIS 50,000 of the money transferred by German-Jewish businessperson Dr. Michael Herzog for investment in Bar-Yosef's daughter's company into Bar-Yosef's own private bank account, according to official documents of the Israeli Ministry of Justice sent to the German Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection. The documents, which were sent as part of the investigation into the affair, were obtained by "Globes ".
Bar-Yosef is suspected of abusing his position as the representative of the National Security Council on the Tzemach Committee for assessing the natural gas sector to promote the solution proposed by a company owned by Herzog for liquefaction of gas using a facility placed on the Mediterranean sea floor. Approval of this proposal would have given Herzog's company, INRI, huge profits. It is suspected that in return, Bar-Yosef received a bribe and favors from Herzog, among other things in the form of a €750,000 investment in NIBS, the startup of Bar-Yosef's daughter, Dr. Hila Fogel, and her business partner, Dr. Iftach Dolev.
Two months ago, Israel Police found that there was enough evidence to indict Bar-Yosef, 63, for bribery, fraud, and money laundering. The case is currently under consideration by the State Attorney's Office. Bar-Yosef denies the accusations against him.
The money reached his private account
The documents obtained by "Globes" reveal what went on behind the scenes of the police investigation in the affair over the past year, including previously unpublished details that are still only suspicions. The documents were sent to Germany in December 2016 by the Ministry of Justice international department in order to facilitate progress in the investigation by obtaining testimony from Herzog, 62, and his business partner, Rabbi Dr. Chaim Rozwaski (85).
The police investigation, as summarized in the documents translated from English into German for the authorities in Germany, found that Bar-Yosef's wife, Aliza, founded a company in Israel in late November 2014 named EMGR Advanced Momentum Group. The company was designed to serve as a pipeline for Herzog's investment in NIBS. At that time, Bar-Yosef was still deputy head of the National Security Council, a position he was appointed to in 2009. Aliza Bar-Yosef served in a senior position in the Ministry of Defense.
According to the investigation findings, €750,000 was transferred from a Ingenia International Trading, a Spanish company related to Herzog, to an account of EMGR, which was registered at the address of the Aliza and Avriel Bar-Yosef in in Zichron Yaakov. Herzog himself confirmed these particulars in a "Globes" interview published last month. He said that he had done this because he wanted to invest in the technology of NIBS, which developed an electromagnetic helmet for medical uses.
While Bar-Yosef claimed in his interrogation that the money from Herzog was used for investment in his daughter's company, the police investigation documents state that some of the money from Herzog found its way to Aliza and Avriel Bar-Yosef's private bank account. "On February 9, 2015, the main part of the €750,000 was transferred to an account at Bank Hapoalim registered in the name of NIBS," the Israeli documents state. Nevertheless, "a small part of the money, about €12,000 (NIS 50,000) was transferred to Avriel and Aliza's private account."
According to the documents, at the heart of the investigation is a discussion that took place in the Tzemach Committee in January 2012, which dealt with the engineering, business, and security aspects of the solution for producing gas from the natural gas fields discovered in Israel's territorial waters. Herzog and Rozwaski flew in especially from Germany in order to present the solution of INRI, which was represented in Israel and on the committee by former Shayetet 13 commando unit commander Shai ("Shaike") Brosh, a suspect in the German submarines affair (Case 3000), who is considered a close friend of Bar-Yosef.
The company offered to build a gas liquefaction facility on the Mediterranean sea floor near the gas drilling site. Bar-Yosef expressed his support for this type of solution for security reasons. "It is suspected that Bar-Yosef exploited his standing in order to promote Herzog's business interests," the Israel Ministry of Justice wrote to the Germans.
As substantiation for this allegation, the documents state that the Israel Police investigation discovered that Bar-Yosef was in touch by telephone with Rozwaski, who held 10% of INRI "both before and after" the discussion during which the company's solution was presented to the Tzemach Committee on January 23, 2012. According to the police investigation as quoted in the documents, Bar-Yosef was in telephone contact with Brosh on both the morning of the day when the committee convened in January and after the noon recess during the committee's discussions. Herzog told "Globes" last month that he had not known that Brosh and Bar-Yosef were friends, and that he found this out during the committee recess when Bar-Yosef patted Brosh on the back and said that they had presented their business plan in the right way.
In addition, the Israel Ministry of Justice mentioned a meeting that took place in Berlin three months before the Tzemach Committee discussion in which Bar-Yosef and Brosh took part. "According to the border control records," the documents state, "Avriel, his wife Aliza and Shai Brosh left Israel on July 7, 2011 on two separate flights to Berlin. The three of them all returned to Israel on July 14, 2011, approximately three months before the Tzemach Committee's opening discussion." The documents say that in his interrogation, Bar-Yosef said that he had met Brosh in Berlin, but he added that the meeting had not dealt with anything in the investigation. He called the visit "a private vacation."
Bar-Yosef repeatedly denied during his police interrogation that the investment in his daughter's company by Herzog was a bribe, and said that it had been a legitimate investment by the German businessperson. According to the police investigation, it was his daughter who told the investigators that she believed that the investment had been the result of concealed interests. According to the documents sent to the Germans, Fogel, 37, said during her interrogation that in her opinion, "Herzog (had invested the money, A.U.) in order to establish close relations with her father and benefit from proximity to decision-makers in Israel."
An Israeli investigator eventually questioned Herzog in coordination with the Israeli embassy in Berlin. Two months ago, the police sent their recommendations to the State Attorney's Office, finding that "evidential grounds had allegedly emerged against Avriel Bar-Yosef supporting the suspicion that he had been involved in bribery, fraud, breach of trust, and offenses under the Prohibition of Money Laundering Law." The authorities in Germany opened a local investigation against Herzog in the matter, and he is now being tried in a different case in which he is accused of defrauding investors of millions of euros , together with two other defendants. Herzog denies the charges.
Bar-Yosef is also suspected of involvement in the submarines affair (Case 3000), in which Ganor, the former representative of Thyssenkrupp in Israel, has turned state's witness and confessed to bribing a series of senior executives in order to promote his business in submarines and other vessel. Brosh is also suspected in this affair.
Herzog previously denied having bribed Bar-Yosef, saying that he had never provided him with any favors or paid for Bar-Yosef's hotel overnights. Herzog said that the discussions on the Tzemach Committee, which eventually did not select INRI's solution, took place three years before the investment the company controlled by Bar-Yosef's daughter. According to Herzog, he believed at the time that Bar-Yosef was in the process of leaving the National Security Council when he made the investment, and was surprised when Netanyahu declared in February 2016 that Bar-Yosef would be appointed as head of the National Security Council. The announcement led to a complaint against Bar-Yosef concerning his ties with Herzog and Rozwaski, the announcement of Bar-Yosef's resignation several months afterwards, and later a police investigation in the matter.
Bar-Yosef: My actions were irreproachable
Bar-Yosef's lawyer, Advocate Jacques Chen, said in response to questions about the suspicions mentioned in the documents, "Since the case is pending and under consideration by the State Attorney's Office, we cannot comment on your questions in any detail. Without addressing the substance, it will become clear that Bar-Yosef's actions were irreproachable.
Aliza Bar-Yosef's lawyer, Advocate Michal Rosen-Ozer, said in response, "As was shown in the past, all of Mrs. Bar-Yosef's affairs are conducted legally, and we do not intend to conduct a discussion on the matter in the press."
Brosh's lawyer said that he did not wish to respond about a matter under investigation.
No response was forthcoming from Hila Fogel.
The State Attorney's Office said in response, "The case is being examined. At this stage, we can provide no further details."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 1, 2018