Suspect in Galantgate forgery 'tried to subvert witnesses'

Police have asked the courts to extend by 10 days the detention of Lt. Col. (res.) Boaz Harpaz, suspected of forging the so-called Galant document, saying he attempted to influence witnesses in the case.

Harpaz, detained on Monday at Ben-Gurion Airport upon return from the United States, is suspected of forgery, obstruction of justice and conspiracy to commit a crime.

	Harpaz was once an officer in an elite commando unit.
	Photo by: Courtesy of Channel 2

According to the remand extension request submitted by police to the Petah Tikva Magistrate's Court, Harpaz forged the Galant document and gave it to the office of Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi.

Harpaz, a former officer in the elite Sayeret Matkal commando unit who has admitted to seeing the document but has denied forging it, is well-connected among high-level figures in the defense establishment, including Ashkenazi.

Police believe Harpaz may not have acted alone, and that senior reserve officers were included in drafting the document and delivering it to the offices of Ashkenazi and other top officers, including GOC Northern Command Maj. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot and Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Benny Gantz.

The Galant document purported to outline a PR campaign for Major-General Yoav Galant in his efforts to become the next IDF chief of staff.

The existence of the document was first exposed by Channel 2 television's news program earlier this month. Galant denied any connection to the document, as did PR guru Eyal Arad, whose company logo is said to have appeared on the document.

On Sunday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak appointed Galant as the next chief of staff.