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Police source: New probe in Barak NPO affair unlikely By Tomer Zarchin Tags: Israel, Labor Party  Major General Yohanan Danino, head of the police Investigations and Intelligence Department, met with State Attorney Moshe Lador Tuesday to discuss the significance of the testimony of Shmuel Levy relating to non-profit organizations' funding of Ehud Barak's 1999 election campaign. Levy was one of Barak's campaign managers, responsible for organization and operations in the field during the Labor leader's prime ministerial bid. Lador and Danino decided for now not to reopen the criminal investigation into the matter, including Barak's responsibility, but instead the prosecution and police will together conduct a preliminary examination of the information Levy passed on. The Tel Aviv prosecutor's office will conduct the examination, as it was responsible for the previous investigation into the non-profits, which started in 2000 and was closed without any indictments in 2006. Advertisement Only after the preliminary examination of Levy's information is completed will a decision be made about a formal investigation. The initial thinking of those involved in the matter is that there is no reason to renew the investigation because of Levy's testimony. One knowledgeable source told Haaretz that it seems that Levy's information "is problematic and very limited," since most of his recent testimony was hearsay. Much of Levy's testimony was second- or third-hand information, and its weight and admissibility in court would be extremely problematic, said the source. In addition, the fact that Levy kept silent on the matter for 10 years, and came forward only when he demanded NIS 14 million from the Labor Party for debts owed him from the campaign, also severely weakens his testimony. In fact, the police consider Levy and his lawyer's behavior in the affair to be rather difficult to understand, since the police had specifically requested that the information be kept out of the press. The police and prosecutor's office will be extremely careful about opening such an investigation in light of the serious political consequences involved, and would not take such a step lightly, said the source. Levy is considered very close to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's political advisor Tal Silberstein, who was Barak's chief of staff in 1999. Levy's attorney, Nitza Dicovsky, denied all the charges made by the source, saying the police had leaked the details of Levy's testimony to the press, and not Levy. She added that Brigadier General Shlomi Ayalon, head of the national fraud squad, had agreed to notify her within a few days if an investigation would be opened, but now the press has informed her that no investigation will be held. Dicovsky added that even although Levy's testimony came late, that does not mean it is not true. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Terror in the capital A Palestinian rammed his bulldozer into a bus in Jerusalem, killing three. Poetic injustice Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish blends sarcasm and hope in his latest work.   1.   Campaign managers are paid $14 million? 13:43  |  S 02/07/08

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