Police want probe of leaks in Katsav case

Source: Danino was pressured into writing the letter by Katsav and his attorneys.

katsav 298.88 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
katsav 298.88
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
The Justice Ministry spokesman confirmed on Monday that a letter had arrived during the day at the office of Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz from Yochanan Danino, head of the police department's Intelligence and Investigation Unit. According to a report by Channel 10, Danino wrote to Mazuz that he believed there was justification in opening a probe into who was responsible for leaks that reached the media during the investigation of President Moshe Katsav. The Justice Ministry spokesman said he had not seen the letter and could not confirm the report. According to one source, Danino was allegedly pressured into writing the letter as a result of constant accusations by Katsav and his attorneys that the police and prosecution had leaked information in order to turn the media and public opinion against him. Meanwhile, sources close to Katsav said that an interview published Sunday in Britain's Sunday Times with the president's main accuser, "A,"was in direct contradiction to the woman's police testimony. According to the sources, the glaring difference between the interview, in which A described in graphic detail how Katsav - then tourism minister - allegedly raped her while she was working in his office between 1998 and 1999, and the testimony she gave police, was based primarily on A's clothing. In the Sunday Times story, A described herself as wearing a skirt. "Before I even understood, he opened his belt and he pulled up my skirt," she told the British newspaper. However, in the police testimony, she was described as wearing pants.