Israel’s Elbit Systems Suspended by NATO Agency Amid Corruption Probe

Israel’s largest defense company, Elbit Systems, has been suspended by NATO’s procurement arm and barred from bidding for work amid a widening corruption investigation into alleged bribery around military contracts, according to a report by Follow the Money and its media partners La Lettre, Le Soir and Knack.

The NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA), which buys equipment and services for the alliance and its 32 member states, is at the center of a major graft scandal. Current and former staff are under investigation for allegedly taking bribes worth potentially millions of euros from defense firms seeking to secure NSPA contracts, FTM reported.

Documents obtained by Follow the Money and its partners show that Elbit, a major NATO supplier, was suspended by NSPA in July. Several ongoing contracts have been put on hold, and the company has been barred from competing for new tenders through the agency, according to the report.

“The vendors’ suspensions follow the emergence of serious allegations indicating that it is likely the suppliers engaged in sanctionable practices, including irregularities in the award of contracts,” a senior NSPA manager wrote in a letter cited by FTM.

Police raids in May across seven countries, including Belgium and the United States, led to several arrests. Authorities in Belgium and Luxembourg, where the NSPA is headquartered, are continuing their probes, the news outlets said.

The report also reveals that an Italian citizen connected to Elbit, identified as 60-year-old Eliau E., is wanted internationally over his alleged role in bribing NSPA staff.

Belgium’s Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that an international arrest warrant for Eliau E. was issued via Interpol in September on suspicion of bribery and participation in a criminal organization. He has not been arrested and may be travelling under a false identity, people familiar with the case told the news agencies.

Eliau E. is listed as owner or director of several defense-sector consultancies: Elar Systems Corp in the United States, Eral Systems UAB in Lithuania and Arelco Europe Management Consultancies in Greece. It is not known whether these firms are implicated in the NSPA scandal, Follow the Money said.

According to two people close to the investigation, Eliau E. was in close contact with Belgian national Guy M., described as a key suspect in Belgium’s probe.

A former Belgian defense official and ex-NSPA employee, Guy M. became a consultant after leaving the agency in 2021, the news outlets reported. He was arrested at Brussels Airport on 12 May 2025 on suspicion of involvement in a criminal organization, corruption and money laundering.

The investigation also touches another former NSPA employee, Turkish citizen Ismail Terlemez, now head and co-owner of fast-growing Turkish defense company Arca.

Terlemez, who introduced Eliau E. to Guy M., was arrested in Belgium in May and faced extradition to the United States, where a parallel investigation into alleged graft in NATO tenders was under way. But that U.S. probe was abruptly halted in July, causing the extradition request to lapse and leading to his release, FTM reported.

Elbit Systems, headquartered in Haifa, is Israel’s biggest arms manufacturer, with a turnover of nearly $7 billion in 2024. It produces drones, tanks, ammunition and other military equipment and ranks 25th among the world’s 100 largest defense companies, according to figures cited in the report.