FM files High Court petition on leaks

Lieberman cites "mother and father of all investigation disruptions."

By YAAKOV LAPPIN, HERB KEINON
Lieberman talks to cameras 311 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski )
Lieberman talks to cameras 311
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski )
Citing the "mother and father of all investigation disruptions,"Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman filed a temporaryinjunction to the High Court of Justice on Wednesday to force theattorney general, the state attorney and the Police InvestigationsDivision to explain why an internal investigationof  leaks in his criminal case had been closed.
It comes a day after he was questionedby police on suspicion of having received an illegal tip-off in2008 informing him of the police’s suspicions against him and allegedlyallowing him to subvert the investigation process under way at thattime.
InAugust 2009, police said enough evidence existed to charge Liebermanfor taking bribes, fraudulently receiving goods, violating publicoffice, obstructing justice, harassing witnesses and launderingmillions of shekels using a host of shell companies and bank accounts.
Lieberman told reporters outside court on Wednesday that closing theleaks case was contrary to a 2008 High Court of Justice ruling that hadordered the police conduct an “intensiveinvestigation” into leaks.
Sources close to Lieberman said Tuesday  that overthe 14 years of investigations against him, whenever the cases wereweakening, police had leaked new information to the public in anattempt to harm him.
Thesources also said the fact that police had leaked the investigation anhour after it concluded merely showed that they were trying to keep theLieberman file alive and in the public eye because “they do not haveanything substantial against him.”
Lieberman’s lawyer on Tuesday asked Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein to investigate the source of the leak.
“Myclient presented himself to the police as requested, and answered allthe questions asked,” Lieberman’s lawyer Yaron Kostelitz wrote toWeinstein. “And here, not more than an hour passed since the end of theinvestigation, and its details were leaked to the media by someone inthe police. As a result, I request that you direct the policeinvestigations department to open an inquiry into this leak.”
A source in Israel Beiteinu accused the police of a “witch hunt” against their party leader.
“The behavior of the police is infuriating,” the source said. “But webelieve this [new investigation] won’t impact the decision ofAttorney-General Yehuda Weinstein, who will not end up indicting him.”
MKs Daniel Ben-Simon (Labor) and Haim Oron (Meretz) called uponNetanyahu to fire Lieberman, who they said was causing massive damageto the country.
Gil Hoffman contributed to this report.