Weinstein: Danino cleared legally to be police chief

A-G tells Aharonovitch that leading candidate to replace Cohen as inspector general is cleared of wrongdoing in homicide cover-up.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, YAAKOV LAPPIN
Yochanan Danino 311 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Yochanan Danino 311
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein on Thursday informed Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch that Maj.-Gen. Yohanan Danino is legally cleared to be appointed Police inspector general.
Danino is widely believed to be the leading candidate to replace Insp. Gen. David Cohen as the next chief of police.
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Earlier this month, the troubled race for the post of police chief was thrown into disarray after it emerged that Danino was the subject of an ongoing inquiry by the state comptroller regarding alleged negligence and an alleged possible cover up over the double homicide of two police informants in 2006.
The inquiry was launched in 2009 following a complaint by a former senior intelligence gathering officer, Dep.- Cmdr. Yisrael Abarbanel, who alleged that police mishandled the affair, leading to the agents’ exposure and murder, and that the episode was then whitewashed by police. Danino was the police’s Investigations and Operations branch head at the time of the murders. He currently serves as head of the Southern District.
The appointment of the next police chief has been troubled by scandal.  Former front-running candidate for police chief Cmdr. Uri Bar- Lev was accused of sexual offenses by two women, leading him to withdraw from the race.