Last update - 00:00 10/10/2007
Comptroller issues order preventing ouster of accountant-general
By Amir Oren, Haaretz Correspondent
State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss issued a temporary order Wednesday evening preventing the government from appointing a new accountant-general to replace Yaron Zelekha. As ombudsman, Lindenstrauss has the authority to grant protection to officials who uncover corruption.
The order was addressed to Finance Minister Roni Bar-On and is intended to thwart Bar-On's plan to approve the appointment of Shuki Oren as the new accountant-general at the cabinet meeting on Sunday.
In August, Bar-On announced that Zelekha's tenure would come to an end when his contract expired this month. The finance minister has stressed that Zelekha has not been fired, but said rather that the accountant-general's tenure was simply coming to an end, and that he places "great importance on rotating personnel during terms".
However, public officials were enraged by Bar-On's announcement, and many said they believed that Zelekha was dismissed because of his role in outing corruption charges against top government officials. Zelekha uncovered the Bank Leumi affair involving Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and is considered a steadfast fighter against government corruption.
The accountant-general is the star witness in an ongoing police investigation against Olmert, in which the prime minister is suspected of interfering with the tender for the controlling interest in Bank Leumi in 2005, when he served as finance minister. Zelekha was behind the initial complaint to the comptroller on the matter.
On Tuesday, police questioned Olmert on the Bank Leumi affair for over 5 hours.
State Prosecutor Eran Shendar has stated that he would not intervene in the finance minister's decision not to extend Zelekha's contract.
By law, Attorney General Mazuz had the authority to intervene in Bar-On's decision to dismiss Zelekha. However, Mazuz has recused himself from dealing with the Bank Leumi case due to a conflict of interest (Mazuz's sister was an advisor to the treasury during the relevant time period) and thus the authority to handle matters surrounding the case fell into Shendar's hands.
Zelekha was the economic advisor to Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu, a known adversary of Olmert, while Netanyahu was prime minister. Moreover, Zelekha was appointed to his current position of accountant-general by Netanyahu while he was finance minister.
Lindenstrauss said Thursday that anyone who reveals government corruption will be protected by law and that this protection is an important step in curtailing corruption in the public sector.
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