Zeiler Commission calls off probe of Karadi appointments
By REBECCA ANNA STOILYoram Levy 298(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Police chief Insp.-Gen. Moshe Karadi could take a sigh of relief Monday after retired District Court judge Vardimos Zeiler said that the commission that bears his name has finished its investigation of rumors that Karadi's appointment of asst.-cmdr. Yoram Levy and Karadi's own appointment were politically motivated.
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Zeiler told the commission Monday there was no "evidential infrastructure" to back allegations that both appointments had been part of Likud political horse-trading.
In testimony last week, Karadi blasted claims that campaign donations had brought about the appointment of Levy as commander of the Southern District's Central Investigative Unit. "There is not a person in the universe who can say that political considerations brought about the appointment of Yoram Levy," he said, after quoting a letter written by one of his detractors, a retired police officer, that stated the contrary.
"It is no secret that certain people seek to attack me," said Karadi, complaining that the media - and even the Zeiler Commission itself - had become mouthpieces for unfounded attacks against him.
The firestorm of allegations and counter-allegations last week began with a letter to the commission in which cmdr. (ret.) Yaacov Borovsky, now a senior adviser to State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss, said that that campaign donations had led to Levy's appointment.
According to the scenario presented, the Perinian crime family served as "vote contractors," enlisting voters to support the Likud Party, to which both former Kadima MK Omri Sharon and current Kadima MK Tzahi Hanegbi belonged at the time. The same family, Borovsky alleged, contacted Karadi - at the time Southern District police chief - through Sharon and Hanegbi, requesting that he appoint Levy.
Levy allegedly had a history of trading information for bribes from the Perinians. In exchange for Levy's appointment, the allegation continues, Hanegbi - then minister of internal security - promised to promote Karadi to the Israel Police's top position.
