Last update - 00:00 10/09/2006
Katsav to swear in Chief Justice if suspension request rejected
By Jonathan Lis and Roni Singer-Heruti, Haaretz Correspondents
President Moshe Katsav's attorney David Libai indicated Sunday that the president would appear at the swearing-in ceremony this week for incoming chief justice Dorit Beinish, if the Knesset failed to accept Katsav's offer to recuse himself for two hours and thus absent himself during the event.
"The president will set the limits of the suspension by himself, and not the Knesset House Committee," Libai told Army Radio. "The House Committee has discretion over whether to accept the request or not. In any case, the committee will discuss the request as is. They cannot change the terms of the president's request, and the limits of the period of the suspension."
Libai's remarks prompted senior Meretz MK Zehava Gal-On warned of a bid to impeach Katsav, if he insisted on what she called the president's "ultimatum."
Katsav has been questioned by police investigators on suspicions of rape and sexual harassment of female co-workers.
Several lawmakers have stated that the suspension must be much longer.
The Basic Law on The Judiciary mandates that judges will take their oath of office in the presence of the president, both in the case of an appointment to the bench or a promotion to a higher court. Thus, if the president asks to be absent, the Knesset will have to temporarily appoint a substitute.
However, legal experts say that the minimal amount of time for a president's absence from duties of this nature is 48 hours.
Gal-On, responding to Libai's remarks, warned that she is considering beginning impeachment proceedings, which at the initial stage would require 20 signatures of Knesset members.
"A president who is suspected of such serious and shameful violations as sexual offenses, cannot ask for a two-hour suspension. The president cannot issue us an ultimatum like this.
"If that's the situation, I believe that the House Committee must open impeachment proceedings."
Katsav prefers to be adsent
Katsav said over the weekend that he preferred to be absent from the ceremony, which is to take place on Thursday, "in order to prevent serious controversy connected with the event." The president's request has created a judicial complication.
Sources at the President's Residence say its legal advisors are seeking a solution that will allow the president to be absent from the ceremony but still remain in office.
After four long sessions of questioning over the past weeks, the president has still not managed to allay suspicions regarding a number of alleged instances of sexual misconduct. Meanwhile, police said an undisclosed number of additional women had come forward to file complaints against Katsav for alleged sexual crimes and sexual harassment.
Senior police officers said this week that the descriptions of the various alleged crimes are in keeping with the conduct of sexual offenders.
The special investigative team headed by police Brigadier General Yoav Segalovitch has tried to keep the probe against the president under wraps, among other reasons so as to surprise Katsav with testimony against him in order to gauge his response.
Police sources said "a significant number" of complainants who served under the president in his various functions over recent years had come forward.
The sources said the president was well prepared for his questioning, presenting, for example, documents and data concerning each of the women he suspected might complain. When investigators tried to surprise him with a certain complaint, he immediately produced dates and information to contradict the complainant's story.
The large number of women who have apparently filed complaints against the president may work in his favor: In most cases, the statute of limitations has expired, insuring that they will never be heard in court.
Haaretz has learned that investigators are in possession of recommendation letters given to the woman known as A., the presidential bureau staffer who has complained that Katsav raped her.
The letters, one of which was signed by Katsav and another by the director general of the President's Residence, Moshe Goral, were shown to the investigators by A. to demonstrate that both the president and his director general had praised her personality and professionalism, in contrast to their present claims.
The woman says she received the letters only after she was forced by the two to write a letter of her own in which she stated that she left her job amicably.
The woman's lawyer, Kinneret Barashi, said in response: "The letters speak for themselves regarding the complainant's professionalism. It is inconceivable that a woman with whom they were so satisfied will later be said to have been fired."
Katsav's attorney, Tzion Amir said in response, "Such letters are given almost automatically when a person ends their employment."