State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss denied on Monday accusations that he was picking on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert by probing his conduct in previous government offices.
"I have no bad feelings in my heart towards the prime minister, although he has come out with harmful and insulting declarations," Lindenstrauss told the Knesset's Control Committee during a session discussing his deteriorating relationship with Olmert.
The prime minister asked Attorney General Menachem Mazuz last week to probe Lindenstrauss for singling him out with a series of investigations against him and for reportedly leaking the nature of the probes to the media.
Mazuz rejected Olmert's claims as baseless. Committee members criticized Olmert for boycotting today's discussion.
A report submitted by Lindenstrauss' office about the privatization of Bank Leumi prompted the police to launch a criminal investigation against Olmert. The prime minister is suspected of skewing a government tender for the bank's sale to favor a businessman friend when he served as finance minister.
"We have no files. All the files are being checked by the attorney-general. A criminal investigation has been launched regarding one of them – the issue of Bank Leumi," Lindenstrauss said.
Lindenstrauss also looked into Olmert's purchase of his Jerusalem home for less than its market price from an associate. It has been alleged that Olmert granted his associate special building permits when he served as the mayor of Jerusalem.
Lindenstrauss denied that his office leaked information to the media, saying that his interim reports were sent to a handful of government offices, which could have leaked information related to the investigation against Olmert.
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