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Photo: Gil Yohanan
President Katsav
Photo: Gil Yohanan
Photo: Gil Yohanan
AG Mazuz
Photo: Gil Yohanan
Photo: Yoav Galai
Former employee
Photo: Yoav Galai

Mazuz asked to urgently probe Katsav affair

President claims he was blackmailed under threat by former employee at his residence, but she charges he sexually harassed her. Movement for Quality Government demands AG investigate incident urgently, and if necessary launch criminal probe

The Movement for Quality Government sent a letter to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, asking him to investigate as soon as possible an affair in which a female employee is charging that Israeli President Moshe Katsav sexually harassed him. Katsav, however, denies the charges claiming that she tried to extort him under threat.

 

“Since the affair implicates the country’s president, there is practical importance to carrying out an all-inclusive investigation into the incident as soon as possible, if only to remove the cloud darkening the president’s door,” read a letter the MQG sent to Mazuz. In the letter, movement members explained how they believed the affair involving the president unfolded, as gleaned from media coverage.

 

The movement said the attorney general must launch have a criminal investigation into the incident as soon as possiblethat, if the criminal suspicions of extortion and libel have any basis or if the employee's complaints against the president can be backed up. Likewise, the MQG criticized the fact that both sides denied filing official complaints.

 

Channel 2 reported Saturday night that the president complained to the attorney general that a woman raised complaints of sexual harassment against him and was trying to blackmail him. The president himself denied the report, and said he had not filed any complaints regarding blackmail. However, Mazuz confirmed Sunday that the president had sent him a letter on the matter.

 

Mazuz: Katsav complained last week 

 

According to Mazuz, he spoke with the president about the matter already last week, and understood from Katsav that the charges were not criminal. In the upcoming days he would examine the facts, he said, to decide on a course of action.

 

"Last Wednesday I met with the president and he presented the development of events related to the former employee at the Presidential residence," Mazuz said.

 

"The president said the developments were documented, but stressed that it is not a criminal complaint. Toward the end of the meeting he gave me a letter summarizing the events. After reviewing the letter and holding consultations I wrote to the president asking for all the documentation. After it is received and examined, a decision will be made on how to proceed," he added.

 

The anxiety surrounding the affair was evident in Katsav’s meeting Sunday evening with Interior Minister Roni Bar-On. Reporters and photographers crowding at the Presidential Residence in Jerusalem were briefly allowed to enter to take photos, and then were immediately asked to leave. The president smiled to the cameras, but the uncomfortability was clear.

 

Neta Sela contributed to the report

 


פרסום ראשון: 07.09.06, 19:00
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