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Superfluous, but not harmful By Ze'ev Segal Tags: Israel The state comptroller's investigation into the case of Jonathan Pollard, who was sentenced to life in prison in the United States in 1987 for passing classified information to Israel, does not seem to be the type of probe for which the State Comptroller's Office exists. This sensitive case - whose elements include the responsibility of the senior officials who ran Pollard, his recognition as someone who worked on the state's behalf, and the failure of the efforts to obtain his release - does not mesh with the primary purpose of the comptroller's work. Both the Basic Law on the State Comptroller and the State Comptroller Law charge the comptroller with examining the legality, efficiency, financial saving, ethical propriety and adherence to proper administration of actions taken by governmental agencies. Thus the law's assertion that the comptroller is authorized to examine "any other matter that he deems necessary" could be interpreted as including only matters related to these five elements. The investigation into the Pollard case stems not from the comptroller's own initiative, but from a request by the Knesset State Control Committee. According to the letter of the law, the comptroller is obligated to prepare an opinion on any issue the committee requests of him; previous comptrollers have generally viewed this instruction as binding. However, in her book on the State Comptroller's Office, former comptroller Miriam Ben-Porat articulates the sensible opinion that this article of the law should be interpreted narrowly, such that the comptroller can decide whether the issue he has been asked to examine indeed accords with the core functions of his job. Advertisement According to High Court of Justice rulings, a mandatory instruction can sometimes be interpreted as an instruction that allows its subject to exercise discretion. Ben-Porat's stance accords with the broad discretion the state comptroller generally enjoys in choosing the issues appropriate for his scrutiny and setting his office's order of priorities, in light of the size of his staff and the urgency of particular investigations. The State Control Committee is also supposed to carefully consider its requests to the comptroller, based on an understanding of the essence of his job, in order not to cause him to stray from his primary tasks. The probe of the Pollard case stems from a confluence of interests among several actors, each motivated by his own agenda. It is the State Control Committee's job to want to scrutinize the executive authority - and in this case, the activist panel headed by MK Zevulun Orlev (National Religious Party) also had a specific interest in helping Pollard's wife obtain the funds to which she is entitled. However, a compromise was reached in the committee regarding the period to be covered by the comptroller's investigation. This deal, under which the comptroller will investigate the state's activities "in recent years," and not throughout the entire period since Pollard's arrest, will not enable the comptroller to provide full answers to all the relevant questions. Micha Lindenstrauss is a determined state comptroller who, relying on his legal authority to investigate, believes in audacious and comprehensive probes. He did not feel that, just as "not everything is justiciable," this case fell under the rule that states that "not everything can be audited." Thus he finds himself dealing with a diplomatic/security/political issue that would be better suited to a state commission of inquiry, which the government at the time declined to establish. Anonymous sources - whose identities, like the degree of "affection" they feel for the state comptroller, are not hard to guess - hastened to declare that the comptroller's investigation "will torpedo Pollard's release" and to depict him as someone who does not care about Pollard's freedom. The comptroller's probe of the Pollard case, which is now at its height, seems to have been superfluous from the start, despite the importance of the matter, which deserves to be investigated through other channels. Nevertheless, it is hard to find a basis for the grave accusation that the comptroller's scrutiny is torpedoing Pollard's release, which U.S. President George W. Bush could otherwise have been expected to approve at the end of his term. It is reasonable to assume that the comptroller's report will focus mainly on the government's efforts to obtain Pollard's release "in recent years," as stated in the committee's decision, and more precisely on the fulfillment of the state's obligations to Pollard and his family. Moreover, the law gives the comptroller and the State Control Committee full power to prevent part or all of the report from being published, if this is necessary for national security or Israel's foreign relations efforts. However, it must be hoped that a way will be found to publish any information that will not cause substantive harm to the vital interests of either the state or the affected individuals, in order to either refute or confirm the widespread feeling that not everything possible has been done to secure the release of Pollard, who has been sitting in jail for more than 20 years. If so, the comptroller's investigation will have served some purpose, and will also serve as a guide to proper behavior should similar cases arise in the future. Bookmark to del.icio.us   The gift of dignity T.A. charity provides female drug addicts with shower, meal and counseling. Sign of life Hamas leader says Gilad Shalit is still alive after two years in captivity.

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