Lawyer investigation of the Elbit artillery case

An independent legal investigation into the Elbit artillery case has been approved by a broad majority in Parliament. A lawyer is now to be found, after which the expectation is that the investigation can start in November or December and be completed by April 1, 2024, the Ministry of Defence said Tuesday. The Elbit case is about misinformation and errors.
      In January, then-Defence Minister Jakob Ellemann-Jensen gave the Parliamentary parties two hours to urgently process an arms purchase worth DKK 1.7 billion from Israeli Elbit Systems. Among other things, politicians were given the impression that the contract had to be signed quickly because the offer for the weapons would expire in January. This was not correct. With Tuesday’s agreement, it has been decided, among other things, that the investigation will also include material that the Ministry of Defence has received from or sent to, for example, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Finance. This was not part of an earlier draft of the terms of reference, but has been requested by parties outside the government. As expected, Jakob Ellemann-Jensen’s role in the case will also be part of the investigation.
     The month before the arms purchase was agreed with Elbit, the Israeli arms manufacturer had demanded future orders to drop a lawsuit in an old case against Denmark, according to the Alting publication. The case ended in a settlement. Whether there is a connection between the settlement and the order is also to be clarified by the investigation. The case has so far cost Morten Bæk his job as permanent secretary in the Ministry of Defence. This happened when there turned out to be errors in the ministry’s statement, which was supposed to explain the course of events regarding the arms purchase. /ritzau/