The State Prosecutor's Office recently requested information from the authorities in Cyprus about private bank accounts owned by Deputy Prime Minister Avigdor Lieberman, in connection with a new investigation against the minister being conducted by the national fraud squad.

In addition to data about these bank accounts, which Lieberman allegedly held while he was serving as a minister, the investigators have also asked for information on companies registered in Cyprus that apparently have links to the Yisrael Beiteinu chairman.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice, Moshe Cohen, refused to confirm or deny the story. "As in every ongoing investigation, it is impossible to release details, because this could result in a disruption of the
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investigation," he said.

Cohen added, however, that Attorney General Menachem Mazuz has asked the police to expedite their investigation.

Lieberman refused to comment on this report.

More than 10 months ago, the fraud squad received information and documents regarding Cypriot companies linked to Lieberman and private bank accounts that he held there. These documents are the new material in the investigation against Lieberman to which Mazuz referred following the recent elections.

According to legal sources, the documents led the State Prosecutor's Office to request further information from the Cypriot authorities related to suspicions of corruption against Lieberman. The police investigators apparently want to find out whether a link exists between the accounts in question and persons with interests in Israel.

A senior legal source said that when the documents were received by the police, high-level deliberations took place between the fraud squad and the State Prosecutor's Office. Mazuz also attended these meetings. At their conclusion, the law enforcement agencies agreed to seek the Cypriot authorities' assistance in taking depositions there.

Earlier this week, the Cypriot authorities confirmed the receipt of a document related to this affair signed by Yitzhak Bloom, the deputy director of the international division of the State Prosecutor's Office.

After the March elections, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert sought a legal opinion from Mazuz on whether Lieberman could be appointed minister of public security. Mazuz responded that Lieberman could not be given a portfolio related to law enforcement, but could serve in a different cabinet post. Mazuz based this ruling in part on the new material received by the State Prosecutor's Office.

The Tax Authority is also involved in the probe: It is investigating suspicions of tax evasion by some of the suspects in the case.

Lieberman has also been the subject of another investigation over the past few years, regarding suspicions of campaign finance violations by his Yisrael Beiteinu Party in 1999. Channel Two television reported recently that this case, which has been ongoing for several years, is about to be closed.