Two lawyers close to Israeli PM detained over submarine scandal

Two senior lawyers close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were detained for questioning as part of an ongoing corruption probe into the purchase of three submarines from the German conglomerate, ThyssenKrupp.

The Israel Police detained David Shimron, Netanyahu's personal lawyer and another senior lawyer as part of "submarines affair" which is known as 'Case 3000,' reported the Jerusalem Post.

The second person has not been named yet.

The two were detained in what seems to be the investigation's third round of questioning.

This latest round comes after the police finished questioning state's witness Miki Ganor in September.

According to the Jerusalem Post, Ganor was the Israeli representative of German shipbuilder ThyssenKrupp and became a state's witness in the "submarines affair" in late July.

Case 3000 is a police corruption investigation into Israel's purchase of German-made naval vessels.

The Israeli media has reported that it was likely that Netanyahu himself would be questioned during the investigation, although he was not considered a suspect.

Netanyahu is involved in two other police investigations one in which it is suspected that he received expensive gifts from different businessmen, and the other in which Netanyahu allegedly sought a secret deal for favourable coverage with the publisher of top-selling daily Yediot Aharonot.