Six suspects have been taken in for questioning by Israeli police for their alleged involvement in an ongoing corruption probe regarding the government's purchase of three German submarines, Hebrew media reported on Monday.

The so-called "submarine affair" centers on allegations that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's personal lawyer, David Shimron, pushed for multi-billion shekel deals in favor of German conglomerate ThyssenKrupp, which is his client in Israel.

The detained are suspected of several crimes including taking bribes, tax offenses, money laundering and corruption. One of the detained has been named as Avriel Bar-Yosef, who Netanyahu nominated to serve as Israeli national security adviser but declined after he was suspected of bribery, money laundering, fraud and breach of trust by Israeli police. 
 

Netanyahu himself is currently not suspected of any crime in relation to the affair but one of the detained allegedly has close ties to the prime minister while another is reportedly a high ranking security official.

According to a previous report in Israeli daily Haaretz, Moshe Ya'alon, Israel's former defense minister, told police Netanyahu helped ThyssenKrupp – the German conglomerate making deals with Israel to the tune of billions of dollars – circumvent the regular procurement process.

Ya'alon had earlier claimed that he "vociferously objected” to Israel purchasing the submarines, and that reports that reports that an Israeli attorney known for close ties to Netanyahu was appointed to the director's board of a subsidiary firm linked to the ThyssenKrupp, were 'very disturbing'."