Last update - 00:00 06/10/2006
AG expected to indict Katsav on sexual assault charges
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent
Attorney General Menachem Mazuz is expected to adopt the police's recommendation to indict President Moshe Katsav on charges of sexual assaults against several women.
The police will complete its investigation in the next few days and transfer the case to the Jerusalem District Prosecutor's Office, along with a note stating that sufficient evidence was found to indict Katsav for sex offenses.
Regarding other aspects of the investigation - suspicions of improprieties in the clemency process and illegal wiretapping of employee phone calls on Katsav's part, as well as suspicions that the complainant known as A. tried to extort the president - the police will not issue a categorical recommendation to the prosecution.
Mazuz has already received part of the evidentiary material, and will review it along with the opinion to be written by the Jerusalem District Prosecutor Eli Abarbanel. The Justice Ministry would like to expedite matters as much as possible and reach a final decision on whether to try Katsav within three weeks to a month.
It was Mazuz who instructed the police to attach to the evidence file a recommendation on whether indictments should be filed on the various counts, in view of the fact that the case is based on the credibility of the subjects interrogated.
Nevertheless, law enforcement officials are still trying to lower expectations regarding the Katsav case. A source close to the investigation said this week that "the likelihood of filing an indictment against the president is identical to the likelihood of the case against him being closed in the end ... All options are open."
A letter on Wednesday from Mazuz's deputy, Raz Nizri, to Katsav's lawyer, David Libai, stated: "To date, no decision has been made regarding the existence of an evidentiary basis that would permit filing an indictment against anyone involved in the case, nor, at any rate, has a decision been made on the question of the topics to be included in the indictments, should any be filed."
Once the police submits its recommendation to the prosecution, the political establishment will be keeping an eye on Katsav's conduct: Will he decide to recuse himself temporarily and go on leave pending the attorney general's final decision, or will he continue serving in his post and exercising all his powers until a formal decision is made to end his tenure?
The police and prosecution collected investigative material concerning all of the women who filed complaints against the president for sexual assault. The statute of limitations has definitely not expired on some of their complaints; on others, it has run out; and on still others, it will become clear later on whether the statute has expired, depending on the charge selected.
In any event, the prosecution plans to make use of the complaints on which the statute of limitations has expired for proving a "pattern" and "modus operandi" on Katsav's part, so that, if an indictment is indeed filed, women whose complaints are not included in the charge sheet can nevertheless be placed on the witness stand.
However, sources close to Katsav insisted that the investigation centered on just three women, and that the evidentiary material concerning them is borderline and problematic.