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| By Israel Insider staff May 6, 2008 |
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While maintain a strict gag order on the substance of the Police National Fraud Unit's investigation of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the Jerusalem District court did permit publication of the fact that an order has been issued to depose a foreign resident. In this exceptional legal procedure, evidence is to be collected from a person who might not be present in Israel to testify in a future trial.
The Court clarified that "this order does not indicate that any of those questioned in the matter -- Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Mrs. Shula Zaken -- have been indicted. The order is given in view of the circumstances at hand."
The court expects to hold a hearing on the material witness petition later Tuesday. The decision on whether or not to apply the comprehensive gag order issued on the probe to the current proceeding will be made during the hearing. But legal experts believe that the fact that Attorney General Menachem Mazuz chose to petition for a pre-trial deposition, especially in this kind of a high-profile case, indicates that the State believes it has a strong case on which to base an indictment.
The hope of some -- that Olmert would be indicted as a present to the nation on the eve of its sixtieth birthday -- appears premature. The police's representative, Superintendent Iris Barak, said during the court hearing that making the affair public on the eve of Memorial Day ? would harm the public interest. "I don?t believe that anyone would want to hear such a thing just before Memorial Day," she said. Her statement did not rule out the possibility that such an announcement might be made on the more festive occasion of Independence Day, on Thursday.
The former Prime Minister's Office bureau chief, Shula Zaken, was interrogated for a third time by the National Fraud Unit on Tuesday regarding her alleged involvement in the latest investigation. As in her previous interrogations, she asserted her right to remain silent. she remains under house arrest.
Earlier Tuesday it was reported that the State Prosecutor's Office, the police and the Prime Minister's Office were watchfully awaiting "a significant development" in the new Olmert affair. A Justice Ministry official said two days ago, "We will continue to closely monitor the developments in a bid to allow the delivery of additional information to the public, as soon as possible, without harming the investigation." But so far there is no sign that the gag order would be lifted soon.
Although Olmert has tried to keep up appearances of "business as usual," he has cancelled several scheduled media appearances ahead of Israel's 60th anniversary celebrations. Meanwhile, the prime minister's associates have gone on the offensive, stating that the timing of the affair's publication was not coincidental. "One must notice the identity of the people involved in the affair, whose opinions are different than those of the prime minister," an aide to Olmert said.
Another source close to the prime minister quote by Ynet added: "The situation is not simple, and we don't know what will happen. We are not allowed to talk, and the gag order prevents the prime minister from defending himself and addressing what really happened."
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