Media leaks, recriminations and harsh, accusatory letters - these characterize the relationship between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss on the eve of the comptroller's preliminary report on the state of the home front during the recent war against the Hizbullah in Lebanon. Lindenstrauss is expected to appear before the Knesset State Control Committee on Tuesday to discuss his findings thus far.


Letter No. 1 - Prime Minister Olmert
On Sunday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert attacked State Comptroller Lindenstraus in a letter he sent to Knesset Chairman Dalia Itzik and to MK Zevulun Orlev, chairman of the State Control Committee. In the letter, Olmert wrote that he has been "restraining himself for many months" in the face of systematic leaks to the press against him from the Comptroller's Office. He accused Lindenstrauss of revealing the contents of the report to journalists before presenting it to the subjects of his reviews. This behavior, Olmert wrote, set "new records for cynicism" and is "a criminal violation" that justifies a police investigation.


Lindenstrauss revealing the contents of the report is "a criminal violation." - Prime Minister Olmert.



Recent press reports, allegedly originating from the Comptroller's Office, indicated that Olmert refused to appear before Lindenstrauss or to answer questions placed to him. Olmert called such accusations "baseless, misleading publications."


The request that the prime minister appear before the comptroller and his investigators was "unprecedented," Olmert wrote. He explained that he had offered to respond to any of the comptroller's questions in writing, followed by further written responses or a meeting "in my office."


Letter No. 2 - State Comptroller Lindenstrauss
State Comptroller Lindenstrauss did not allow Olmert's letter to go unanswered. A letter from the State Comptroller's Office to MK Orlev on Sunday said:


"This is not the first time the prime minister purposely procrastinates and treats the Comptroller's Office and the professional investigators acting as his agents with contempt, with regard to the criticism leveled at him. It is a shame that the prime minister raises claims and accusations that have no basis in reality, and is trying to throw sand in the public's eyes; instead of addressing the heart of the issue, he addresses the issue of the investigators. It is also a shame that the prime minister crossed the boundaries of the stateliness of his position and took the matter to a personal level."


Lindenstrauss concluded that he will appear before the State Control Committee, "as invited... and there, he will make his views heard."


"It is a shame that the prime minister... is trying to throw sand in the public's eyes." - Comptroller Lindenstrauss.



"It is Olmert's duty to give precise and clear answers to the numerous questions he has been asked for many months, about the way he conducted himself in the war in the North, with its dire consequences," Lindenstrauss said.


Olmert "Losing His Mind"
Knesset Member Ran Cohen (Meretz) reacted to Prime Minister Olmert's attack on Comptroller Lindenstrauss by saying, "As we near the moment in which the State Comptroller plans to expose the Olmert government for what it is, the prime minister is losing his mind and reacting with hysteria, and additionally attacking the State Comptroller, thus damaging this democratic institution."


MK Ami Ayalon (Labor) said Sunday the prime minister's attack on State Comptroller Lindenstrauss was "scandalous" and undermined the authority of the investigators. "It would have been better if the prime minister busied himself in giving answers and fixing the severe defects which the war exposed, instead of trying to besmirch the state comptroller," Ayalon concluded.