State Attorney orders criminal probe into Gantz's former company

Acting State Attorney Dan Eldad on Thursday evening instructed the Israel Police to open a criminal investigation into artificial intelligence company Fifth Dimension, of which Blue and White leader Benny Gantz was a senior executive.

The State Prosecutor's Office noted that the Department for Internal Investigations will be involved in the investigation as required.

The case concerns the services provided to the police by Fifth Dimension. The company went bankrupt and shut down in 2018.

At present, Gantz is not a suspect in the matter, but Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu blasted him on Thursday evening.

"Not only did Gantz go bankrupt in the Fifth Dimension affair, he received a 50 million shekel contract without a tender, of which 4 million shekels were put into his company's coffers and were not returned to the state coffers. It will only be investigated after the elections. What a joke," Netanyahu said.

Gantz responded to the State Attorney's decision to open a criminal investigation and said, "I have much trust in the law enforcement system and I have no problem with any investigation they want to carry out. This affair has no criminal element as far as I’m concerned. The ones who are pushing it are the Likud.”

"On March 17, Likud chairman Netanyahu will sit on the defendant’s bench [in court]. That's where the noise is coming from. I am confident there will be nothing and I trust the law enforcement officials,” he added.