Lindenstrauss won't divulge interim findings on home front

Originally, Lindenstrauss had prepared a seven-page report which included some of his findings on home front failures.

By DAN IZENBERG
Lindenstrauss AJ 298.88 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
Lindenstrauss AJ 298.88
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss on Wednesday informed the High Court of Justice he would not submit another report to the Knesset State Control Committee on his investigation into the home front during the Second Lebanese War before receiving replies to the findings in his interim report of those he had investigated. Originally, Lindenstrauss had prepared a seven-page report which included some of his findings on systemic failures in preparing the home front before the war and taking care of it properly during the war. He was prevented from doing so after OC Home Front Command Maj.-Gen. Yitzhak Gershon and the chief army defense attorney petitioned the High Court, charging that if he did so, he would be violating their right to due process, since he had not given them a chance to reply to the allegations contained in the interim report. Some of those who were investigated by the state comptroller had not received the report until the eve of the scheduled meeting. The petitioners argued that Lindenstrauss should not publish findings and conclusions based on the interim report. They said he first had to allow those under investigation to read the report and respond to the allegations against them. Lindenstrauss should then take these explanations into account in reaching his final conclusions and only after doing so should he draft his final report and release it to the public, they argued. Lindenstrauss expected Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz to represent him at the March 6 High Court hearing, which was held early in the morning of the day the state comptroller was due to present his report to the committee. However, Mazuz refused to represent Lindenstrauss on the same grounds that the petitioners had argued. At the opening of the hearing, Lindenstrauss asked the court to postpone it until he found a lawyer to defend him. In return, he promised not to present findings from the interim report to the committee. The court agreed. During his appearance before the committee, he informed the MKs that he would read the seven-page report he had prepared. On Wednesday, his new lawyer, David Liba'i, informed the court that time had passed and his client no longer intended to present the report he had prepared to the Knesset State Control Committee until he had received the responses of those under investigation. He asked the court to dismiss the petition on the grounds that the matter had become theoretical.