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Probe of IDF's 'Chicogate' could implicate top brass
By Amos Harel

The investigation of Brig.-Gen. Moshe (Chico) Tamir, whose appeal against his demotion to colonel is set for today, is beginning to raise alarming findings about the functioning of the Military Police hierarchy, Haaretz has learned. Tamir did not honestly report an accident in which his son took a military vehicle for a joy ride.

According to the conviction, Tamir's teenage son drove a military-issued ATV on a dirt road and collided with a civilian car. Tamir paid the driver of the car NIS 1,000 not to report the incident and to cover repairs, but when the ATV was inspected by army mechanics, he was required to file a special report on the incident. In the report, Tamir claimed that he had driven the vehicle.
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Military Advocate General Brig.-Gen. Avichai Mendelblit asked a commander in the army Criminal Investigations Division, Col. (reserves) Yaakov Danai, to investigate the functioning of the Military Police in the Tamir case. The judges in the tribunal that ruled on Tamir referred to "earth-shattering" suspicions about the military police's conduct in the case.

In the course of the trial, Sgt. First Class Eliran Blutman, the Military Police investigator in charge of the Tamir case, testified he had been ordered by higher-ranking officers to manage the case in a "superfluous" way. Blutman said that although the suspicions against Tamir - false reporting of an accident, paying cash to the other driver and a delay in submitting the report - were all known at an early stage of the investigation, he did not investigate Tamir under caution and treated the case as a matter of accidental damage and removed Tamir's name from the list of persons involved in the actual collision. He claims to have acted on the direct order of the commander of the CID Southern Command, Lt. Col. Sassi Megido. Blutman said he believed the order was given with the knowledge of the commander of the CID, Col. Meir Ohana.

Tamir himself testified that he had informed another senior officer, chief of Military Police in the Southern Command, Lt. Col. Yuval Shoan. If true, the two testimonies would imply that the case was not prosecuted for over a year although three senior officers knew Tamir had been party to an accident in which there was a suspicion of a false report.

Sources within CID told Haaretz that Megido informed the advocate general of the Southern Command, who answers directly to the IDF military advocate general.

Sources at the Southern Command claimed that GOC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Yoav Galant was also aware of the accident, and that it was he who informally persuaded Tamir not to delay the investigation further and to cooperate with CID.

The investigation is also likely to touch upon the question of whether the military advocate general knew about the case, and if he did, why no progress was made in the investigation for over a year.

Blutman is scheduled for discharge in the coming weeks and was not summoned for questioning by Danai. Ohana is completing his tenure as CID chief and is set to be promoted to brigadier general and named head of the Military Police, succeeding Commander Brig.-Gen. Roni Benny. Military sources said the investigation into the details of the case could take years.

A military source told Haaretz: "Who exactly is interested in bringing the truth to light? The findings can mess up the plans of a lot of people. Besides, a thorough check will reveal considerable problems about the functioning of the CID over the years."
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