Last update - 00:00 22/11/2006
Zeiler Committee may criticize former PID head Eran Shendar
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent
The Zeiler Committee, which is investigating alleged police and prosecutorial misconduct in the bungling of a murder probe involving the Parinyan brothers reputed crime kingpins, appears to be considering to criticize decisions made by State Prosecutor Eran Shendar, who served as head of the Police Investigations Department (PID) at the time.
The committee recently sent a letter to Shendar, who headed the PID until 2003, and his successor, Herzl Shviro, ahead of the completion of its inquiry and compilation of its final report.
"The committee has yet to formulate its conclusions and recommendations on the matters placed before it," the committee members wrote.
However, they warned that their conclusions might relate to a new revelation on the part of Shendar and Shviro, who said the PID had decided not to open a criminal investigation against police officer Yoram Levy.
Levy was appointed commander of the central unit in the police's Southern District although he was implicated in the tangled Parinyan affair by Tzachi Ben-Or, a policeman who allegedly killed Pinhas Buhbut in 1999 on the orders of the Parinyan brothers.
Ben-Or fled the country before he could be arrested, and was murdered in Mexico in 2004.
The Zeiler committee is expected to hear summations next week, after which it is supposed to compile its final report.