The investigation of the mysterious "leaker" of the allegations against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in the height of the election campaign has brought fruit - and the leak was found to have been initiated by a senior official in the Tel Aviv District Prosecution office. An attorney named Leora Glatt-Berkowitz has admitted supplying Ha'aretz reporter Baruch Kra with the information on the police investigation into a $1.5 million loan to Sharon and/or his sons by his friend Cyril Kern. Glatt-Berkowitz was questioned last night "under caution," meaning that she is suspected of a crime - that of disclosing classified information - and was released under restrictive conditions. Kra and another journalist were similarly questioned, for "interfering in a police investigation."
In light of media accusations that the police and Attorney-General Elyakim Rubenstein are themselves interfering with the media's right to free speech and to protect their sources, Justice Minister Meir Sheetrit said this morning that Kra's original story was legitimate, but not those that he published after he was warned that they were harmful to the investigation of Sharon.
Civil Service Commissioner Shmuel Hollander told Army Radio's Razi Barkai this morning that the law states that it is a "criminal act for a government employee to transmit, without authorization, information that he learned in the framework of his position to an unauthorized person." Barkai responded, "That's what we live on in the media. Otherwise, we would all be unemployed."
It was originally widely believed that the police leaked word of the six-month-old investigation, and the Attorney-General even condemned what he called "the involvement of the law-enforcement bodies in the political system," and said that the leak was intended to influence the upcoming election. Staffers in Likud campaign headquarters said the leak was "intentional and deceitful," and "the media and the leakers have banded together to lie to the public in order to replace the government."
In light of media accusations that the police and Attorney-General Elyakim Rubenstein are themselves interfering with the media's right to free speech and to protect their sources, Justice Minister Meir Sheetrit said this morning that Kra's original story was legitimate, but not those that he published after he was warned that they were harmful to the investigation of Sharon.
Civil Service Commissioner Shmuel Hollander told Army Radio's Razi Barkai this morning that the law states that it is a "criminal act for a government employee to transmit, without authorization, information that he learned in the framework of his position to an unauthorized person." Barkai responded, "That's what we live on in the media. Otherwise, we would all be unemployed."
It was originally widely believed that the police leaked word of the six-month-old investigation, and the Attorney-General even condemned what he called "the involvement of the law-enforcement bodies in the political system," and said that the leak was intended to influence the upcoming election. Staffers in Likud campaign headquarters said the leak was "intentional and deceitful," and "the media and the leakers have banded together to lie to the public in order to replace the government."