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Businessman and defendant: Police manipulate justice system By Tomer Zarchin Businessman and real estate developer David Appel, who is considered to have been close to politicians like former prime minister Ariel Sharon and former minister Aryeh Deri, is accusing police of manipulating the justice system. The accusation is part of a 14-page document that Appel's lawyer, Shuli Eshbol, recently filed with State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss. In it, he details complaints about wiretaps related to 16 separate police investigations. Appel says that during the 27 months he and his family were being tapped, police recorded about 85,000 conversations, of which some 3,000 were transcribed or excerpted and only 500 were classified as investigative material. Advertisement Eshbol also gave Lindenstrauss, who was appointed by the government in July to examine the issue of police wiretaps, a conversation from the year 2000 between Sharon (who was then an MK and Likud chairman) and his lawyer, Yaakov Neeman, and a conversation between Appel and Channel 2 journalist Dana Weiss, from about 18 months before. "Despite the massive scope, in practice the judicial branch is not really supervising the police activity in this field," argues Appel. "The judicial branch is not necessarily to blame. Rather, the judicial branch itself is often a victim of police manipulations." Appel voiced some of his arguments as part of a 2004 High Court of Justice petition and during the legal proceeding against him underway in the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court, for suspected bribery, among other charges. 16 Appel cases Among the documents Lindenstrauss received, in the context of Appel's wiretapping complaints, was a letter one of his lawyers had received from an assistant to the Tel Aviv district prosecutor, saying that he was questioned by the police's international crimes unit and its fraud unit in 16 different cases, including one in which Appel is suspected of carrying out a real estate deal with the principal of a yeshiva under the guise of providing a donation. He is also suspected of obstructing Deri's 1999 trial on corruption charges, as well as a police investigation of former defense minister Yitzhak Mordechai. Appel says the investigations led to three charges, included on a single indictment filed against him in Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court; that trial is still under way. Seven of the cases mentioned in the document given to Lindenstrausss are related to the ties between Appel and Likud MK Reuven Rivlin, and Appel says they all were based on the taps on his phone lines. "The affairs served to prevent Rivlin from being appointed justice minister," says Appel. "The cases were not declared closed, even though the investigation was completed after a short clarification. Only after several years, when [Attorney General Menachem] Mazuz was appointed to his position, were the cases closed." Appel says the time period and scope of the wiretaps, when compared to the meager results, indicate a serious flaw in police officials' judgment. Five different judges Police made a total of 15 requests from the courts for permission to continue wiretapping Appel, and he charges police with appealing to five different judges, without giving any of them the entire picture. Appel also argues that police intentionally avoided going to a single specific judge. He said the police avoidance of appearing before former deputy president of the Tel Aviv District Court Yishai Levitt was "intentional, since there was someone in the police who tried to taint Judge Levitt," by accusing him of a conflict of interest. When those responsible for filing police requests for court orders authorizing wiretaps found out that Levitt's son was doing his legal internship with one of Appel's lawyers, police said they suspected Levitt of conflict of interest. Appel says the continued wiretapping did not always have to do with the original suspicion that served as the basis for the wiretap request. He says the content of the conversations being recorded showed that there was no basis to the police request for a wiretap to investigate his alleged involvement in the illegal tapping of Shas colleague Eli Yishai, but "years passed, the investigation on this matter did not continue, but the wiretaps continued, for other reasons and on the basis of other suspicions." In some cases, Appel was engaged in confidential or political conversations that had no connection to any suspicions and were not included in the court wiretap order, Appel says. In some cases the conversations involved people who were not involved in the investigations, and involved the violation of attorney-client privilege and doctor-patient privilege, and compromised a reporter's ability to protect her source. The attorney-client privilege was violated, according to Appel, when police tapped a conversation between Sharon and Neeman on June 26, 2000, which took place from Appel's home phone but to which he was not a party. Neeman recently informed one of Appel's attorneys that at that time he was representing Sharon on "professional matters" and that their conversation was indeed covered by lawyer-client privilege. Neeman's statement on the matter was also sent to Lindenstrauss. In large part, the explanations given for the wiretaps do not actually allude to suspected crimes, says Appel, but instead blacken his name with vague expressions like "takeover" and "meddling," intended to give the impression that he was involved in shady dealings. Police said Appel is merely reiterating old accusations. "These are old and recycled allegations that relate to the years 1999-2001, and these have been discussed and were given detailed police attention in many and varied forums, including the 2003 attorney general's report, the state comptroller's report from 2004, and in the High Court. In the years that have passed since then, there has been a revolution in the police in the way wiretaps are dealt with." Police also said the state comptroller and the parliamentary inquiry committee on wiretapping received all the relevant information from police, adding, "and we are convinced that the leaders have put their minds at rest in connection with the professional level of the police during this period." Wiretapping, which police consider one of the most important investigative tools at their disposal, is a sensitive issue that requires court approval. It is also supposed to be subject to tight controls. All wiretapping requests are first examined by an internal supervisory body, comprised of professional and administrative officials who make a decision based on the needs of the investigation, and then are brought to a court for final approval. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Fate of the Palestinians Lebanese President tells Bush the future of Palestinian refugees is in their homeland. Bill Clinton on Obama Ex U.S. President delays campaign for presidential hopeful due to Jewish holidays.

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