Attorney Yael Kutik, the legal adviser to the Justice Ministry, rejected a request by police to reexamine the issue of a conflict of interest involving senior officials in the State Attorney’s Office and the Justice Ministry, following the conclusion of the investigation into the leak of the video from the Sde Teiman incident.
In her response sent today (Tuesday) to the police’s legal adviser, Deputy Commander Attorney Elazar Kahana, Kutik wrote that his letter “does not include a sufficient factual basis" to justify reopening a review of the matter.
Kutik noted that the original legal opinion issued in November was based on the possibility that officials from the Attorney General’s Office and the State Attorney’s Office would be required to give testimony in the investigation-a concern that ultimately materialized in practice.
She added that had it been known at the time the opinion was written that certain officials did not initiate a declaration of conflict of interest or did not regulate the matter before or after giving their testimony, the conclusions reached might have been even more severe, potentially rising to a determination of institutional disqualification.
In conclusion, Kutik asked the police to provide additional and precise information regarding the identity of the officials involved and the extent of their connection to the exhaustion of the criminal process, in order to allow for a renewed examination of both individual and institutional conflicts of interest.
The letter followed a formal request from the police’s legal adviser, Deputy Commander Attorney Kahana, sent at the direction of Police Commissioner Insp.-Gen. Danny Levy.
Kahana argued that in light of the findings of the investigation, it appears that senior officials in the Attorney General’s Office-including Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara-were not involved in the affair itself, and therefore the restrictions imposed on them during the investigation should be reconsidered.