Posted on 12/20/21
| News Source: i24
The charges against the Israelis include weapons security violations and money laundering
The State Attorney's Office Finance Department said that ten Israelis and three companies will be charged with serious security violations related to the illegal sale of missiles to China.
The challenged business deal was brokered by Ephraim Menashe, an Israeli drone entrepreneur and founder of the Solar Sky company, who hired Tzvika and Ziv Naveh, owners of the Innocon drone company, as well as other unnamed suspects, according to the attorney general's office
"The suspects were investigated in connection with a large-scale security case, in which they were suspected of manufacturing, trading and exporting cruise missiles for military use without a license," prosecutors said.
The suspects will be summoned for a pre-indictment hearing. The charges against them include weapons security violations, money laundering, and violation of the Defense Export Control Act.
The Defense Ministry's Defense Export Control Agency, established in 2006, manages the export and licensing of all Israeli-made defense equipment and technology, and companies are required to apply to it for a license before negotiating deals abroad.
Once the missiles were manufactured, Menashe allegedly exported dozens of them to China secretly in exchange for millions of dollars that he hid from the authorities, prosecutors said.
Israel has some 1,600 licensed arms exporters, employing 150,000 to 200,000 people. In addition, there is a vast supply chain of subcontractors who provide software, hardware, raw materials and other goods needed for weapons production.