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Judge Micha Lindenstrauss
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| By Israel Insider staff March 28, 2008 |
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Jonathan Pollard, from his US Federal prison cell in North Carolina, has launched a campaign to have the Israeli media and officials "follow the money trail" to find out what happened to the funds that were supposed to be allocated to him as an Israeli agent and the funds that earmarked to help secure his release. In a detailed letter [repeated below] to Judge Micha Lindenstrauss, the Israeli state comptroller, he has suggested that the funds may lead to a corruption that when revealed could cause an "earthquake" that could rock the Israeli political system.
In recent days, the Olmert Administration has attacked Lindenstrauss for his willingness to look into the case, suggesting directly and indirectly that the State Controller is motivated by a "vendetta" against Olmert. Knesset State Control Committee chairman Zevulun Orlev blamed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Wednesday for a newspaper report accusing the state comptroller of torpedoing efforts to release Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard.
"I am sorry that Olmert has made an ugly spin at Pollard's expense and on his abandonment of Pollard," Orlev said during a hastily arranged press conference, at which he and Lindenstrauss denied the accusations in the Yediot Aharonot report.
According to the report, "senior officials in the security establishment and government corridors in Jerusalem maintain that the broad investigation that the state comptroller has been conducting recently will harm the 'sensitive efforts' to bring about the release of the spy Jonathan Pollard. 'It is scandalous,' said senior security establishment officials."
The newspaper did not name its sources, but later in the report wrote that "senior officials in the Prime Minister's Office and the defense establishment are worried about this digging into the question of the government's efforts to bring about Pollard's release."
"Pollard's fate hangs in the balance, but Olmert goes on with his personal war against the state comptroller and his campaign to delegitimize him," Orlev charged. "This is irresponsible and cannot be ignored."
Lindenstrauss declined to speculate about who had made the allegations, but added that "it is clear that apparently - I hope I'm proven wrong - that someone is very afraid of the outcome of the investigation."
He charged that the allegations that he was endangering the efforts to release Pollard were "hallucinatory" and that he had been officially empowered to look into the issue of past government efforts to secure Pollard's release. "The State Control Committee ordered me to carry out this job," he told reporters. "What is going on here? The Knesset decided unanimously [to ask me toinvestigate past governments' handling of the Pollard affair]. Security and other officials, including the cabinet secretary, attended the meeting, and not one of them opposed the committee's decision. I handled the investigation with utmost discretion. The truth is that no one had heard about it until this morning. What happened all of a sudden [to prompt this]?"
The committee asked Lindenstrauss to investigate the Pollard affair in December. He began the investigation in January and is due to question Olmert and former prime ministers Ehud Barak and Binyamin Netanyahu soon. Orlev stressed that the final report would remain classified and would be discussed behind closed doors by a special subcommittee of the State Control
Committee.
The latest charges by Pollard follow claims by Prime Minister Olmert's attorney that the Government of Israel has provided "full financial support" to him, when in fact not a cent has been given to him, he says, creating extreme financial hardship for him and his wife Esther.
Members of the Olmert government, including Pollard's former handler, now-Minister Rafi Eitan, have suggested that a deal to free the Israeli agent might be compromised by attention to the case at this "sensitive" point.
Pollard says this is nonsense and that the only thing standing in the way of his freedom is a request by Olmert to President George W. Bush. Olmert, according to Pollard, has until now not made such a request.
"There are no efforts to secure my release. One man and one man alone can free me: George Bush. One man has to make the official request for my release: Ehud Olmert. Our sources in Washington confirm that Olmert has not asked for my release. I can be home in time for Passover. The only thing standing in the way of my immediate release is that Olmert's unwillingness to have me home is well known to the President."
Pollard is claiming that the reason Olmert and others in the Israeli political establishment don't want to request his release is that he knows too much. He urges Lindenstrauss, known to be a tough pursuer of criminal investigations against officials, including Olmert, "not to be deterred and not to be side-tracked. Bookkeeping is not a matter of opinion. Receipts and signatures are black and white. Follow the money trail! That is where you will find the truth about the Government's 'failure' to secure my release from the hands of our closest friend and ally for the last 23 years."
Pollard, an intelligence officer in the US Navy, began handing over classified information to Aviam Sela, a senior IAF officer working for Lekem - a secret intelligence outfit in the Defense Ministry. He was arrested in 1985 and sentenced to life in prison. Israel has granted Pollard citizenship and acknowledged that he served as an Israeli agent.
Pollard's letter to Lindenstrauss follows:
Judge Micha Lindenstrauss
From: Jonathan Pollard
March 27,2008 B"H
VIA FACSIMILE and REGULAR MAIL [Relayed via
Attorney Larry Dub]
Dear Judge Lindenstrauss,
RE: Government accusations that you are "torpedoing efforts" for my release
Allow me to respond as follows:
1) The Israeli media attack on your credibility and motive which occurred on Wednesday (26 March 2008) where anonymous government officials accuse you of "torpedoing delicate efforts" to secure my release is NOT about efforts to secure my release. Nor is this attack (as MK Orlev suggested) political revenge by Olmert against you. It is about MONEY!
2) The letter I sent to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on March 24th (cc to your office) asking him to account for 23 years of funds that have apparently been misappropriated and illegally reallocated, was called to the PM's attention when journalist Udi Segal (Arutz2) contacted his office for a response, before presenting my letter on the 8 o'clock evening news.
3) In my letter, I asked the Prime Minister why his office insists on disseminating lies saying that my wife, I and my associates are receiving full financial support from the government, when in fact we have never received a single cent from the Government of Israel in the 23 years that I have been in prison.
4) If the Government claims it is allocating resources for me and my wife, but we have never received the money, then who is getting the money?
5) As former PM Ehud Barak memorialized in a letter (which we supplied to your office) there is no secret bank account for me in Israel. No funds waiting for me. So again, the question must be raised, where are 23 years of funds that the government owes, and which it claims it is providing to me and my wife?
6) This apparent financial malfeasance on the part of the Government may well be just the tip of the iceberg. If you follow the money trail, you may uncover something much bigger than mere financial corruption.
7) Has the Government of Israel been using the Pollard case as a cover for some much larger "SLUSH FUND" all these years? Or is it something worse? It is the task of your investigation to find this out.
8) Allow me to reassure you one more time: your investigation of the Israeli Government's handling of the Pollard case can not torpedo efforts to secure my release. There are no efforts to secure my release.
9) One man and one man alone can free me - George Bush; and one man has to make the official request for my release - Ehud Olmert. Our sources in Washington confirm that Olmert has not asked for my release.
10) I can be home in time for Passover. The only thing
standing in the way of my immediate release is that Olmert's unwillingness to have me home is well known to the President.
11) The rumors that Bush will free me as a gesture to
Israel either for the 60th anniversary or at the end of his term are unfounded. Bush will not make a gesture to Israel which Israel has not asked for and which the PM does not want!
12) If your investigation will carefully investigate the
money issues I have raised, it is my strong conviction that when the truth is finally revealed, it will cause a virtual earthquake in Israel. Perhaps we will finally understand the real reason that the Israeli establishment did not want me home.
In conclusion: I urge you, Judge Lindenstrauss, not to be deterred and not to be side-tracked. Bookkeeping is not a matter of opinion. Receipts and signatures are black and white. Follow the money trail! That is where you will find the truth about the Government's "failure" to secure my release from the hands of our closest friend and ally for the last 23 years.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Pollard.
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