Last update - 00:00 23/02/2007
Levy: Zeiler probe sabotaged police intelligence operations
By Yuval Yoaz and Mijal Grinberg, Haaretz Correspondents
Police Commander Yoram Levy on Wednesday accused the Zeiler Committee of "sabotaging police intelligence work in a terrible manner."
In an interview to Haaretz following the release of the Zeiler Committee's report, Levy said the committee was responsible for damages that would be felt for the next decade.
Meanwhile, the attorney general has ordered the Police Investigations Department (PID) to launch a criminal investigation into Levy's involvement in the stolen batteries affair.
"Today I wouldn't agree to work in police intelligence," Levy said.
Levy admitted that the police erred in the affairs probed by the Zeiler Committee, but also said the committee was wrong in focusing on him.
However, Levy said he will not fight anymore. He decided to resign from the police this week - without waiting for the implementation of the committee's recommendation to oust him.
"It pains me, but I don't think I would be able to stay. That is, unless Zeiler would say tomorrow: 'I erred.' Emotionally I'm exhausted. The present struggle is to prove that the inquiry committee didn't [state] the truth. It used me as a scapegoat."
While Levy said he welcomed the PID probe, he also stated, "I have no idea why it was opened against me. I think the police did a fine job in the batteries' affair, following all the rules. They got the batteries back, didn't they?"
What did you feel after reading the report?
"I didn't read it, nor do I intend to. Zeiler's findings have been refuted more than once and he ignored this fact. The committee decided on its verdict already during its first week. Maybe I should have acted like some clerk, who works from eight to four. But I'm not built that way."
The committee says that you and Chief Inspector Rubi Gilboa acted to give Oded Parinyan hundreds of thousands of shekels as mediation commission instead of trying to catch the thieves.
"Rubi dealt with the batteries. He had a source - an Arab from the territories - who told him who stole the batteries. We needed a few days to locate the thieves and the batteries. Meanwhile the source made a deal with the insurance company to return the batteries and Rubi knew about it... The source vanished, because his Shin Bet operator told him not to have anything to do with the affair."
Were you aware of Oded Parinyan's deal with the insurance company, brokered by Gilboa?
"Not in my opinion. Had I known, I wouldn't have let him take the money. At the beginning, when Oded asked me about the money, I told him that we don't transfer funds. I told him to take Shogun's [Chief Superintendent (ret.) Haim Pinhas, today a private investigator for insurance companies] phone number from Rubi and decide with him how to transfer the money. Afterward, I found out that the money had gone through the police. I said that I thought that was not right, but it was no great disaster. We couldn't double-cross Oded and put him under surveillance. In intelligence work you can't do that. Your basic commitment is to protect the source from anything bad happening to him as a result of imparting the information."
The committee says you gave the Parinyans' casino immunity.
"When you say 'casino,' you have to
consider the positions I was serving in. I dealt with murder cases, not with a casino. Did anyone deal with casinos at that time? There were dozens of casinos in the area surrounding Ramat Gan's Diamond Exchange. It was no secret. The policy only changed after [Ze'ev] Rosenstein's assassination attempt in 2003. Only then did we start cracking down on casinos. On the eve of the raid on the Parinyans' casino nobody talked to me. There was one two-second call that went unanswered."
Why did Oded call you?
"It was the most natural thing in the world to do. A source in distress calls his contact man in the police. But they received no answer. Even if I had answered, I would have told them to go to hell. It was only decent to let him know we were going to raid them, so that, as operator, I would be able to prepare to take him after the raid. But I never authorized operating a casino."
You closed the file against the Parinyans for beating up bailiffs?
"The only file closed was the incident when Oded attacked a bailiff's man. Charges were filed two and a half years later and I recommended closing the case, as a reward. It would have been closed anyway. As far as I'm concerned anyone can operate sources. Even the police commissioner."
You testified before the committee that the Parinyans provided valuable information. The committee says all that information was worthless nonsense.
"First of all the relations with Oded were worthwhile, because you benefit from it. You always get more than you pay for. We've proved the information was valuable. I don't want to give details because they will read it in prison. But I can prove that Zeiler is babbling irresponsibly."