Sources: Chief police investigator leading race for state prosecutor - Haaretz

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Last update - 06:22 16/09/2007

Sources: Chief police investigator leading race for state prosecutor

By Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondent

Major General Yohanan Danino, head of police investigations and intelligence, is a candidate for the post of state prosecutor, according to sources close to the committee in charge of finding a replacement for Eran Shendar.

Danino did not propose his candidacy for the job himself, but he is a lawyer by training.

He began serving in his current posting in April 2006, having held a number of senior posts, including chief of the international criminal investigations division and head of the public security minister's operational task force.

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Senior police sources expressed doubts that Danino would be willing to take up the post of state prosecutor, even if he was selected. They said that in the coming year, Danino intends to lead a significant restructuring at the police, unifying the force's various investigation branches. While the framework of the restructuring is still not finalized, police sources say that Danino is expected to dedicate the coming year to its implementation.

During the past year Danino has handled a number of sensitive investigations headed by his division, which required close cooperation with Attorney General Menachem Mazuz and State Prosecutor Eran Shendar. These included the investigations of allegations against former president Moshe Katsav, ministers Haim Ramon and Abraham Hirchson, as well as the probe into the role Prime Minister Ehud Olmert played in the Bank Leumi privatization tender.

Even though he is a well-respected officer, Danino has not been free of controversy. Senior officers, both retired and active, have claimed that Danino had been 'selected' months earlier for the state prosecutor job, and that this will constitute a promotion for someone who did nothing.

His critics claim that he was not sufficiently energetic in the investigation of the Greek Island affair, in which former prime minister Ariel Sharon and his sons were implicated, and blamed him for adopting a policy, which advocated that the case be closed from the get-go.

However, other senior officers praise him for his professionalism and for establishing new standards for investigation.

"Even in sensitive cases, such as the one of president Katsav, Danino was not deterred from holding a full investigation. And in the end, he recommended that charges be brought [against the suspects]," a police source said.

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