Mazuz asked to probe leaks from Comptroller's Office

In a letter sent to Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik and Chairman of the State Control Committee MK Zevulun Orlev, Olmert demanded they cancel the committee meeting scheduled for Tuesday, at which the report is due to be presented and discussed.

In his letter to Mazuz, Ben Sasson wrote that "as far as I know, the draft of the state comptroller's report regarding the Home Front's preparedness during the fighting in the north has not been handed over to this day to any of the people mentioned in the report.

"We have recently witnessed many media publications quoting drafts of the state comptroller's reports. These suspicions (of leaks) are extremely severe in my opinion, and should they be proven true, could harm the most basic principles of Israeli democracy."

'PM's harsh accusation must be checked'

Ben Sasson continued, "In his letter from yesterday, the prime minister accuses the State Comptroller's Office of recurring leaks of report drafts. On the other hand, the state comptroller says that the leaks do not originate from his office and that the report drafts are leaked to the media by the bodies mentioned in the reports.

"Such a harsh accusation by the prime minister cannot remain hanging in the air. These things must be checked. Such clear statements made by two of the media's senior commentators, who say they know what is written in the draft cannot remain unanswered. These things must be investigated," Ben Sasson added.

The state comptroller said in response to Ben Sasson's letter that "it is a pity that the chairman of the Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, which should be supervising the government's activities on behalf of the public, is cooperating with the attempt to harm criticism and its findings.

"The State Comptroller's Office did not present the draft of the State Comptroller's Report to anyone, and the fact that the drafts contain more than 600 pages, some of them classified, are enough to make it clear that no journalist could have read them in the past week.

"In any event, the State Comptroller's Office has been battling leaks regarding the office's confidential draft reports and has appealed to all newspaper and electronic media editors, stressing that these leaks are against Basic Law: State Comptroller, which imposes a jail term and a fine on those who publish the reports without the comptroller's approval."

On Tuesday, Chairman of the Knesset's State Control Committee, MK Zevulun Orlev (National Union-National Religious Party) is expected to hold a discussion on the Home Front issue. State Prosecutor Lindenstrauss will be present at the meeting.

Following the row sparked by the interim report even before its publication, and the IDF Home Front Command chief petition to the High Court to block the Knesset's State Committee from holding an open discussion of the report, MK Orlev met with Lindenstrauss on Monday afternoon. According to the State Comptroller's Office, the two discussed the committee meeting scheduled for Tuesday.

Orlev stressed that the meeting was scheduled in advance, adding that he did not expected the comptroller's interim report to include personal or institutional conclusions, which will be included in the final report.

The High Court will discuss the army's petition on Tuesday at 9 a.m. Officials at the Prime Minister's Office said that they were studying the petition.

Miri Chason contributed to the report