Attorney General Menachem Mazuz informed President Moshe Katsav's attorneys Sunday that he intends to add an additional rape count to the draft indictment against the president.

The decision to add the count was made after additional police questioning of A., who Katsav is suspected of raping while she was his subordinate at the Tourism Ministry, as well as after Katsav was questioned under caution last week at the President's Residence.

A final decision on whether to indict the president will be made following a hearing on the matter on May 2, during which Katsav will be given an opportunity to respond to the accusations.

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The questioning was conducted after A., who had earlier accused the president of rape, filed a new complaint alleging that Katsav raped her twice, though she did not mention the second allegation in her initial testimony.

Katsav denied the allegation during the questioning.

Mazuz said in a statement that the decision "was made after the evidentiary material that was collected during the investigation was examined by the Jerusalem District Prosecution as well as in hearings conducted by the attorney general with the participation of the state prosecutor, senior state prosecution officials, the prosecution team that oversaw the investigation, and the heads of the police team that investigated [the allegations]."

Katsav's attorney Zion Amir expressed anger at the attorney general's decision, saying we was very surprised by its timing. "The president was questioned on the matter on Thursday, only one weekend has passed since then and already on Sunday morning I received a message regarding the addition of the charge," he said.

"Assuming people at the Justice Ministry don't work on Friday and Saturday, it appears the decision to include this charge was made even before the president was summoned for questioning," he continued. "The questioning was a formality, that was not intended to change the decision."

Regarding the charge itself, Katsav's attorneys argue the complainant has changed her version of events a number of times since the investigation began, and originally said she was not raped at all by the president - rendering her testimony unreliable.

According to the original draft indictment, Katsav raped the woman and forced her into her other sexual activities.

The draft indictment also accuses Katsav of exploiting his status as an employer to have sex with a second A., who worked as a secretary in the President's Residence, as well as with indecent acts and sexual harassment.

In the case of two other President's Residence employees, Katsav the draft indictment accuses Katsav of indecent acts that involved exploiting his status as an employer and sexual harassment.