Last update - 00:00 13/09/2006
Winograd Committee candidate nixed due to conflict of interests
By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent
Plans for the establishment of a panel of inquiry to review events of the recent war in Lebanon were further delayed Wednesday after a candidate for the committee was found to have a possible conflict of interests.
A major-general in the Israel Defense Forces reserves who was a candidate for joining the Winograd Committee was disqualified because of concern that his position as a director in the military industry would cause a conflict of intrests.
The Prime Minister's Office is searching for an alternate candidate, but the delay complicates Olmert's plan to gain government approval for the Winogard Committee by Sunday.
The examination into the possible conflict of intrests is headed by the PMO's legal advisor, Shlomit Barnea and Attorney General Menachem Mazuz.
Qualification for membership in the committee depends on three issue: whether the candidate affiliated with a military industry receives commissions from the Defense Ministry; whether the candidate had made any comments during the war indicating a particular position on the committee's topics of inquiry; and whether the candidate had been privy to consultations with the prime minister, the defense minister, or the IDF chief of staff.
The Prime Minister's Office favors the addition of a second reserve Major General to the Winogard committee, which already includes Major General (res.) Menachem Eynan, justice (ret.) Eliyahu Winograd, Prof. Ruth Gabizon and Prof. Yehezkel Dror, in order to create what it considers a 'balanced' panel.
Sources in Jerusalem estimated Tuesday that if delays persist, former Mossad chief Nahum Admoni will be asked to stay on the committee's panel.