Colonel demands to see evidence from Harpaz Affair probe

Erez Weiner, who served as the top assistant for former IDF chief of staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, in legal battle with state comptroller.

By YAAKOV KATZ
311_Micha Lindenstrauss (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
311_Micha Lindenstrauss
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Attorneys for the state comptroller and Col. Erez Weiner will meet Tuesday to discuss the senior officer’s demand to receive all evidence collected in the comptroller’s investigation into the so-called Harpaz Affair.
Weiner, who served as the top assistant for former IDF chief of staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, came under sharp criticism in the draft report that State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss issued to relevant parties in March.
Weiner immediately requested the material after receiving the draft version of the report but Lindenstrauss rejected his request. As a result, he petitioned the High Court of Justice.
In a strange sequence of events, Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein refused to represent Lindenstrauss and recommended that the State Comptroller’s Office supply the material to the officer. Lindenstrauss refused and has since hired former justice minister David Libai to represent him in the court proceedings.
Last week, the court set June 4 as the date it will start hearing arguments on the petition, which has led to some speculation that the final report on the Harpaz Affair will be written by the next comptroller, Joseph Shapira, who takes up the post in early July.
This is because if the court accepts Weiner’s petition it will have to give him time to review the new material so he can respond to the draft report.
If not, Weiner will still need time to submit his response.
Ashkenazi has also yet to file his response.
The Harpaz Affair is named for Col. (res.) Boaz Harpaz, a former Military Intelligence officer who allegedly forged a document detailing a strategy of how to get former OC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yoav Galant appointed chief of staff in place of Ashkenazi.
Barak wanted Galant for the post, while Ashkenazi was believed to have wanted a fifth year in the job for himself.
The document was leaked in 2010 to Channel 2 and was later discovered to have been forged. While Galant was tapped by the government as the next chief of staff, he ultimately lost the appointment due to an unconnected land affair involving his home in Moshav Amikam, near Zichron Ya’acov.