The State Comptroller has stepped in to protect the job of Accountant-General and Olmert corruption whistle-blower Dr. Yaron Zelicha.
State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss, in the authority granted his position, issued a protection order preventing the removal of Zelicha from his position. The Finance Ministry, headed by Olmert-confidante Roni Bar-On, had claimed that the decision not to extend Zelicha’s tenure did not constitute firing him. Bar-On says he will pursue the matter in the Supreme Court.
Zelicha is a key witness in a corruption case against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Olmert was questioned Thursday under caution by police for the second time this week about his role in intervening on behalf of wealthy friends overseas during the privatization of Bank Leumi.
Finance Minister Bar-On had said he would submit his nomination of Zelicha’s replacement, Shuki Oren, to the Cabinet for approval Monday. Lindenstrauss’s order prevents that and demands more proof that Zelicha is not being fired due to his blowing the whistle on Olmert’s misdeeds.
The request that Lindenstrauss protect Zelicha came from an unlikely partnership between MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union) and MK Shelly Yechimovitch (Labor). Eldad told Army Radio that he did not believe the case would go to the Supreme Court.
"If Olmert or Bar-On wish to take another blow - then they'll go the Supreme Court,” said Eldad. “Because it is hard for me to believe that the court will want to get involved over a temporary order aimed at allowing more time to examine the complaint. The criminal investigation against Olmert in the Bank Leumi affair - which Zelicha exposed - is actually going on these very days."