Last update - 00:00 17/10/2006
Director General of President's Residence suspected of eavesdropping
By Roni Singer-Heruti and Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondents
The director general of the President's Residence, Moshe Goral, was involved in eavesdropping activities, say the police investigators who have been looking into the suspicions against President Moshe Katsav.
According to testimony gathered, Goral played a central role in setting up the mechanism used for eavesdropping when Kastsav moved into the residence.
Much of the information received by police came from a former security officer who left the President's Residence several months ago. From the testimony supplied by the former security officer, it is not clear whether Katsav actually used the listening device to listen in on the workers, but it is clear that it was attached to his telephone and that it was put in place during his term in office.
The testimony of the former security officer was central to the police's decision to recommend an indictment.
Haaretz has learned that the device attached to Katsav's telephone was fairly simple and is often used by telephonists to interrupt a call. However, in the case of the President's Residence, the company that installed the device was asked to add a special button, in Katsav's personal bureau, that would enable someone to listen to conversations between two parties without being detected.
The security officer told investigators that he had come across the button only several months after it had been installed, and had informed the legal staff in the residence. The latter, however, apparently refused to relate to the matter.
Other security personnel reportedly also testified to the device's existence.
At a later stage, the security detail called the telephone company in to remove the button. The documents relating to the work the telephone company did were handed over to the police during the current investigation.