PM’s Office: Comptroller trying to sabotage Olmert

State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss says gave Prime Minister Ehud Olmert one month to respond to questionnaire on war in Lebanon – but he’s still waiting for the answers. PM’s office infuriated that Lindenstrauss may publish interim report without Olmert’s responses

Ronny Sofer|Published: 03.02.07 , 18:36

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was summoned two-and-a-half months ago to appear before the State Comptroller’s Office control panel to answer question on last summer’s war in Lebanon. Olmert, however, preferred not to grant his presence and requested that the questions be transferred to him in writing.

Although he gave Olmert one month to respond to the questions, the state comptroller is still waiting for the answers, Army Radio reported Friday.

The Prime Minister’s Office, for their part, is accusing the state comptroller of planning to publish the interim report without the prime minister’s responses.

The State Comptroller’s Office said the questions were transferred to Olmert in writing, according to his request. A source in the office said the questionnaire was relatively short, but even though more than a month has passed, the prime minister has failed to hand in his answers.

Next week State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss is due to issue an interim report to the State Control Committee regarding the Home Front’s preparedness for the war in Lebanon, in which he will present the main findings of his inquiry into the war thus far.

Responding to the comptroller’s charges, sources in the Prime Minister’s Office called it “scandalous” that Lindenstrauss would dare publish the report without Olmert’s responses.

“The comptroller wants to harm the prime minister and do something which has never before been done, i.e., publish an interim report without the responses of those being reviewed, even though Olmert is willing to respond to the questions and asked for an extension due to the weight of the material.”

Sources in Olmert’s office said the comptroller sent the prime minister a summons on December 25, 2006, to appear before him to answer questions regarding the management of the Home Front during the war in Lebanon.

This was an unprecedented move, which the comptroller is not authorized to do, and therefore Olmert wrote him back on January 7, 2007, telling him to act according to the existing laws, the sources said. Olmert offered to answer the questions in writing, and afterwards, if it was necessary, to appear in person.

The sources said it took the state comptroller three weeks to formulate roughly 20 questions for the prime minister, while he demanded Olmert answer the questions in a mere two weeks.

“It’s unthinkable. It’s a lot of material, touching on a period of over seven years, since 2000,” they said. “The Prime Minister’s Office viewed at as impossible and unrealistic to acquiesce to the time constraints… and therefore asked the comptroller for a reasonable amount of time to answer the questions, until the end of March.

“However, then Lindenstrauss decided to publish the interim report already next week – without the prime minister’s responses. This is completely irresponsible behavior on the part of the comptroller. He apparently sees himself in competition with the Winograd committee, and wants to be first. We are sorry that this is how things are.”