State Comptroller Micah Lindenstraus has hinted that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert purposely bungled – or lied about bungling – a tape recording he made of his own testimony before the comptroller's team. The comptroller also says Olmert made several attempts to interfere with his team's investigation of allegations that he had bought a house on Cremieux Street in Jerusalem for the very low price of $330,000.



In an interview in today's Yediot Acharonot, Lindenstraus relates the story of the tape recording thus:



"Something very strange happened there. Our team, headed by [former high ranking police officer] Yaakov Borovsky, reached the prime minister. At the start of the conversation about the house at Cremieux, the prime minister said he wanted to record the discussion, and brought two tape recorders, one as backup. This saved us the need for a protocol. The prime minister turned the device on with his own hands.



"At the end of the conversation we asked him for a copy or a reel from the recording. Two days later we asked the prime minister's people and we were told the recording had failed. We had to try and reconstruct everything from memory."



NFC news website reported Friday that the recording devices were extra-dependable ones, which the Prime Minister's Office uses for the most secret conversations, including security matters. It was only for this reason, according to NFC, that the Comptroller's team agreed not to use their own equipment.



Olmert's lawyers, Eli Zohar and Ro'i Blecher, were present during the Prime Minister's testimony and reportedly assisted him in phrasing his answers in a way that would not incriminate or implicate him in any wrongdoing.



Lindenstraus said Olmert's lawyers keep on asking the Comptroller's office to give them more and more documents. "They are simply stalling the investigation," he said.