Last update - 00:00 11/10/2006
Police ordered to investigate Katsav associates impugning 'A'
By Roni Singer-Heruti and Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondents
The State Prosecutor has instructed the police to investigate some of the witnesses connected with information received recently from circles close to President Moshe Katsav.
At the same time, "A.," the former employee in the president's bureau who has complained that Katsav forced her to have intimate relations with him against her will, underwent additional questioning late last week.
She will apparently be questioned again in coming days alongside a number of other complainants, in the wake of information about them passed on to the police from some of those presidential associates. Notwithstanding, police believe they have sufficient evidence against Katsav to press charges against him.
All of the additional interrogations are expected to be completed by the beginning of the coming week, at which point the case will be handed over to the prosecution.
At that stage, the police and the prosecutor's office will consult about the evidence on the various suspicions raised against the president. Officials in the prosecutor's office said it would be another two or three weeks before a decision was made on whether to indict Katsav and on which charges.
The additional questioning of A. is apparently connected to a document recently received by the prosecutor's office that portrays A. in a bad light, especially with regard to her sexual behavior.
Police have also taken testimony from a man who claims to have information about A. and her ties with men, but neither this information nor the document are apparently being treated as highly reliable.
A.'s lawyer said Tuesday she was considering taking legal action against people besmirching her client's name.