Multinational scandal involving Elbit and NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA)

In the summer of 2025, the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) ^[1] banned Elbit Systems from the list of all new tenders and froze several already existing contracts in response to a major multinational bribery scandal. ^[2] It was reported by many major media outlets, among which are Follow The Money and La Lettre. ^[3]

At the heart of the NSPA decision to currently suspend Elbit from any tender was a wide-ranging corruption scandal that led to arrests in May 2025, following raids by authorities in seven countries, including Belgium and the United States. ^[4] The investigation targeted current and former employees of the agency, suspected of having received bribes worth millions of euros to award supply contracts to NATO and its 32 member states, the Romanian outlet Bursa.ro stated, while admitting that Romania will be made vulnerable as it has submitted to a choice to make Elbit one of its major defense suppliers in the past two decades. ^[5]

An NSPA internal audit uncovered senior officials manipulating tenders, leaking bidding data, and steering contracts through opaque channels, as Follow The Money reported. Meanwhile, a 60-year-old Italian citizen Eliau E. received an Interpol arrest warrant on September 30, 2025 for bribery and criminal organization. Though not officially employed by Elbit, he is considered a potential key consultant. ^[6] A former Belgian defense official Guy M., who became an NSPA consultant in 2021, was arrested for criminal organization, corruption, and money laundering shortly before this, on May 12, 2025. He spent six months in custody before being released under electronic monitoring, with his lawyer admitting some facts but disputing the millions-of-euros bribe estimate. ^[7]

This major scandal of NATO included Elbit Systems, Orion Advanced Systems, an unknown Italian Company, and Global Defence Logistics (GDL). It could impact all the current NATO countries, including the Czech Republic. The legal investigation is currently closed with no outcome.

NATO suspension and L.P.P.

At the same time, Elbit continues its business in other NATO member states. Czechia is an example, with the L.P.P. holding a.s. (further referred to as L.P.P. holding or L.P.P.) having signed a contract with Elbit. Some of the L.P.P. board members were NATO representatives for Czechia in the past, namely Miroslav Žižka and Martina Tauberová, ^[8] with Ms. Tauberová continuing to be a current Czech representative for other international economic and defence forums. ^[9]

František Šulc, who was the deputy of the Czech Ministry of Defence until 2025, ^[10] was simultaneously a board member in L.P.P. Given into the account previous corruption related scandals, we cannot overlook the possibility of conflict of interest and the fact that governmental investments into military enhancements (sponsoring L.P.P.) may have possibly been influenced by the highly positioned state officials interested in profiting from Elbit's and L.P.P.'s collaboration.

The official report on signing the cooperation agreement on the website of the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Tel Aviv from October 2023 shows the ties between the Czech state structures and the emerging business cooperation. It mentions Veronika Kuchyňová Šmigolová, the Czech Ambassador in Israel since September 2023, and Miroslav Žižka, who is now the managing director of L.P.P., has a connection to the Czech Ministry of Defense and experience working for NATO (2002-2005) and a general ranking in the Czech army since 2010, meeting with Amir Bettesh (vice-president for Marketing and Business Development of Elbit Systems) and signing the collaboration agreement between L.P.P. and Elbit Systems. ^[11]

Lessons (not) learned?

While Elbit's tender suspension is ongoing, the L.P.P. board members, having signed a collaboration with Elbit, ^[12] did not publish any official statement concerning the possibility of the Czech Republic getting involved in a similar scandal, acknowledging the continued involvement of Elbit in supplying arms into conflicts with documented breaches of human rights or any adjacent controversies. ^[13] We also underline that the Czechoslovak Group, another local arms company, was already involved with the aforementioned NSPA scandal. ^[14]

The Czech Republic is actively engaging in deepening its ties to the international arms trade giant, while other countries in our proximity, as well as international organizations, have already learned their lessons from cooperating with Elbit Systems. This article is the second part of a series on Elbit's international imprint.

Part I focused on Elbit Systems being involved in worldwide abuses of human rights and violations of international law.