Last update - 00:00 17/01/2007
Comptroller considers suspending special advisor for corruption
By Zvi Zrahiya, Haaretz Correspondent
State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss will decide whether to retain or suspend his special advisor, Ya'akov Borovsky, after receiving an opinion from Attorney General Menachem Mazuz on the police case against the aide.
Borovsky, a former senior police officer, advises the comptroller on fighting governmental corruption. However, he was questioned under caution by the police on December 27 on suspicion of having offered to back off from a police investigation into then-prime minister Ariel Sharon if Sharon agreed to make him police commissioner. Mazuz is now reviewing the case to determine if it should be closed, investigated further or result in an indictment. Borovsky denies the allegations.
After his interrogation, Borovsky took a three-week leave of absence, but he continued to go to the office occasionally even during this period, and Tuesday, he returned to work full-time. However, Lindenstrauss removed him from an investigation into Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his staff. The chairman of the Knesset State Control Committee, MK Zevulon Orlev (National Religious Party) demanded that Lindenstrauss suspend Borovsky. Olmert's lawyer, Eli Zohar, had also demanded that Borovsky be suspended, or removed from this probe.
The comptroller's office said: "The comptroller is awaiting the attorney general's opinion, as required by law, to consider his next steps. Upon Borovsky's return from leave, in order to remove all doubts, prevent any suspicions and refrain from even the appearance [of injustice], the comptroller instructed him to refrain from involvement in the audits connected with the premier and his bureau."
Borovsky met Tuesday in a cafe with Accountant General Yaron Zelekha, the main complainant in the Bank Leumi affair. Borovsky confirmed the meeting took place, but said it had been planned three weeks ago and had nothing to do with Olmert, and did not bring up the investigation into the Bank Leumi affair. Borovsky said he and Zelekha were friends and met often. He said they had planned to meet again.