Lt.-Col. (res.) Boaz Harpaz, a businessman, is the only suspect in the affair; alleged motive was to torpedo Galant's appointment.
By YAAKOV LAPPINRusso, Galant, Ashkenaza and Barak toast wine 311(photo credit: IDF Spokesman)
Police formally handed over the results of the investigation into the alleged forgery of the so-called “Galant document” to Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein and state prosecutors on Thursday.Lt.-Col. (res.) Boaz Harpaz, a businessman, is the only suspect in the affair.RELATED:The Galant Enigma A-G Weinstein freezes Barak's Galant affair probe The forged document purports to show that Arad Communications, a public relations firm, drew up plans for a public relations campaign for OC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Yoav Galant that would create a positive image for him and negative images for incumbent Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi and another potential Ashkenazi replacement, Deputy Chief of General Staff Maj.-Gen. Benny Gantz.The document was revealed on Channel 2 in August and presented as a leak from a credible source, promoting the investigation.Harpaz’s alleged motive was to torpedo an attempt by Defense Minister Ehud Barak to appoint Galant to become IDF chief of General Staff, and to make it possible for Ashkenazi to stay on as army chief.Despite media reports claiming that police on Thursday recommended that Harpaz be indicted, the recommendation to state prosecutors was already made on September 1, a police source told The Jerusalem Post.On September 1, police took the unusual step of announcing that Harpaz was the prime forgery suspect, even though the investigation had not yet ended, in order to clear the names of senior defense officials who had been mistakenly mentioned in press reports as suspects. The affair rocked the senior echelon of the defense establishment.“There is no evidence to support the idea that employees of the defense minister or IDF chief of staff were involved in preparing the document,” police said in the September announcement.On Thursday, the police source said there was little new information in the case material handed over to state prosecutors.Police have been critical of the media’s coverage of the affair, last month describing many reports as “pure rumor and gossip” influenced by “manipulations and baseless estimations, which were often contradictory.”
Related Tagsyoav galant
if(catID != 151){
var cont = `Take Israel home with the new Jerusalem Post Store
