New Prison Service head appointment canceled

Following claims of improper conduct, Aharonovitch cancels appointment of Eli Gavizon after A-G says he could not approve it.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
The Public Security Ministry has canceled a recent appointment to head the Prisons Service after problems reportedly emerged during a lie detector test.
Last month, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch named Lt.-Gen. Eli Gavizon as the new head of the Prison Service, raising hopes within the organization that it would be headed by chief who has come from Prison Service ranks rather than the Israel Police. 
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Those hopes were dashed on Sunday when Aharonovitch canceled the appointment, after Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein said he could not approve Gavizon's appointment.
According to Maariv, the Turkel Committee, which is tasked with scrutinizing senior public appointments, asked Weinstein to investigate claims of improper conduct on Gavizon's part that appeared in anonymously written letter sent to the committee.
The allegations centered on claims that Gavizon maintained intimate relations with five women from the Prison Service, one of whom was under his command at the time. The letter also alleged that he arranged questionable benefits to one of the women.
Gavizon was reportedly asked by Weinstein to take a lie detector test, which he failed, leading Weinstein to tell Aharonovitch that he could not approve the appointment.
Outgoing Jerusalem police chief, Cmdr. Aharon Franco, has been appointed instead to take over the post from outgoing head Lt.-Cmdr. Benny Kaniak.