In an investigation published on August 21, Haaretz revealed the roots of a complex case. Matanya “Mati” Kochavi, the Haifa native, at 57, made his fortune in real estate in the United States during the 1990s boom. In reality, man is known in the defense community as a “solutions integrator” and a good intermediary in international arms transactions.

At the helm of many companies based in Israel, Switzerland, Britain or Cyprus, Kochavi took advantage of the post 9/11 security paranoia and offered surveillance and guarding solutions, installing an electronic intrusion detection system on tens of kilometers of fences surrounding the ultra-sensitive infrastructures.

It is precisely the data of one of the companies of the Kochahvi empire that were disclosed during the new revelations in the small tax haven of the Caribbean.

The documents obtained by Haaretz in 2017 revealed a transaction worth three billion shekels (more than 760 million euros), part of which would have been paid in cash. This sum involves one of the group’s subsidiaries and Emirati personalities.

Discreet financial fixtures

An in-depth review of leaked correspondences from Appleby’s legal-financial firm reveals that the United Arab Emirates army, very impressed by the performance of Israeli and British electronic intelligence aircraft, wanted to acquire a similar air capability in anticipation of a war against Iran.

The reflection that began about ten years ago consisted of the acquisition and customization of two civil affairs jets in listening devices and information gathering.

The documents found precisely describe the structure put in place for the purchase and modernization of these devices. On the documents, the end user is clearly indicated: the UAE armed forces.

Financial arrangements go through many companies — this is the method in the UAE — they rarely buy directly from foreign suppliers.

Firstly, the tender is awarded to a local company still owned by a close relative of the royal families, in order to distribute the enormous budget of the Emirati defense that is around sixteen billion dollars for an army of 65,000 men.

In the case of spy planes, the army chooses an Abu Dhabi company, Advanced Integrated Systems (AIS), created in 2006 and owned by Abdullah Ahmed Al Balooshi, a close intelligence official. The company’s specialty is the provision of security and surveillance systems.

The archives of this company’s website indicate that ASI was managing a large number of projects in the UAE and internationally, and its turnover would be close to $ 1 billion.

From the beginning, the verification of the documents shows a bill dated 2015, amounting to 629 million euros for the two equipped aircraft and their maintenance, 80 million more than the initial arrangement between the Emirati army and AIS dating from 2010.

State-of-the-art technological equipment

The equipment purchased included, sensors and their software dedicated to the interception of electronic signals (ELINT) for 65 million euros, long-range antennas and decryption software for the listening and interception of communications (COMINT) for 80 million euros, an aircraft self-protection system for 42 million euros, two LOROP long-range oblique cameras for more than 40 million euros, and a trifle of 35 million euros for support and maintenance.

AIS entrusted the integration project to the Swiss company AGT International, owned by Mati Koshavi. AGT bought two aircraft (Bombardier Canadian jets) and registered them in the tax haven off the coast of England in 2012.

The Koshavi company bought the equipment and then entrusted the tender for their integration to the British firm Marshall for the good sum of 100 million dollars.

The obsession with surveillance

In addition to these transactions, the report found Koshavi’s business in one of the most sensitive areas in the UAE.

AGT International provided thousands of cameras, license plate readers and the entire IT infrastructure for managing urban security in Abu Dhabi and across all borders and entry points in the UAE.

All this infrastructure is managed by an artificial intelligence system delivered by Israel called Wisdom, which brews in real time millions of videos and images taken over the whole territory, without any guarantee that the data is not also under the control of entities other than the UAE.

As a reminder, officially there are no diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. On the other hand, they share a common enemy, Iran.

Source — https://mondafrique.com/laccord-darmement-entre-israel-et-mbz-le-prince-heritier-des-emirats/