Last update - 00:00 07/02/2008
Justice Min. mulling Knesset panel to probe police in Ramon affair
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent
Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann is currently considering appointing a formal committee of parliamentary inquiry to review the police investigation that led to the 2007 conviction of then justice minister Haim Ramon for forcibly kissing a female soldier at the Prime Minister's Office, Haaretz has learned.
Friedmann is reviewing the subject following a recommendation yesterday by former justice Vardi Zeiler, who was asked to form a legal stand on the police's conduct during the investigation and trial of Vice Premier Haim Ramon.
In mid 2007, an internal committee headed by retired judge Shalom Brenner recommended that police conduct in the matter be probed further after determining that "Ramon's case was handled negligently." Yet Brenner also determined that the police had acted without malice when it decided to omit and not report wiretap transcriptions that could have served Ramon's defense team.
Ramon yesterday told Haaretz that "all the options are on the table" in answering whether he planned to request a mistrial from Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch.
"This is not about my personal case," Ramon told Israel Radio. "This is a public matter. I will ask to read Brenner's report, and then when I'm done reading it I will decide how to react."
Ramon attorneys have reportedly contacted Friedmann and requested that he accept Brenner's recommendations to form the parliamentary committee of inquiry. Ramon and his attorneys say that among other oversights, the State Prosecutor's Office deliberately concealed the fact that Ramon and members of his office were subject to wire-taps.
Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann and Attorney General Menachem Mazuz decided to ask Zeiler to explore the issue after Ramon's attorneys asked that a state commission of inquiry be formed in his case.
"If these suspicions prove true, it could shake the foundations of the whole system," said Zeiler in his brief, submitted to Mazuz and Police Chief Dudi Cohen.
"There no longer remains any doubt that some of the procedures in Ramon's case were aberrant, and to some extent compromised his right to properly set up his defense," Zeiler is quoted as writing. He went on to criticize the police for using wiretaps in a case which "did not warrant any."
Zeiler also criticized Brenner's performance, quoting him as saying: "I'm not a committee of inquiry. I'm sort of a weird body, I don't know what I should call my function." Zeiler said Brenner had construed his jurisdiction to be too limited for what the job required. "As a result, most of the facts are yet to be determined," Zeiler wrote.
"Brenner's conclusion that the police acted without malice when it omitted transcriptions is not based on facts, but on his general impression," Zeiler wrote. The omission, according to Zeiler, seriously harmed Ramon's ability to mount his defense, and ultimately impaired the public's faith in the police and the judicial system.
Police Brigadier-General (Ret.) Miri Golan and Chief Superintendent Eram Kamin, who headed the investigation, allegedly acted with malice by not disclosing the materials derived from the wiretaps, stated Zeiler, adding "it would be an insult to assume they were too ignorant to realize it was relevant to the case."
Zeiler goes on to criticize the Tel Aviv District Court judge who authorized the wiretaps against Ramon - some retroactively after they had already been conducted. "I think this retroactive approval is doubtful. The law does not allow the courts to sanction such wiretaps retroactively."
In his report, Zeiler also notes that the prosecutors already admitted they had mishandled some aspects of the investigation. "The negligent behavior of the State Prosecutor's Office to which Brenner refers in his report is supported by facts. Some of the people involved in the case admitted they had handled it with negligence and expressed regret for these actions," he writes.
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