The police charge that the defense in the Ofer Nimrodi trial ran a private detective at the discussions held at the Tel Aviv District Court, who systematically extracted information from the prosecutor and State witnesses, Zion Sasson, Rafi Pridan and Yigal Tam. The detective, Arye Krishak, is suspected of passing himself as a playwright writing a play about the affair.
The personal information Krishak extracted from the witnesses, supposedly meant for character sketches, was apparently delivered to Yaakov Nimrodi and some of his son’s attorneys, who allegedly used the information to threaten and suborn the witnesses in order to prevent their testimony.
The key suspect in the affair, Yaakov Nimrodi, was frequently interrogated in the past few days for several hours by the Police national unit for the investigation of international crimes. The Petach Tikva Magistrates Court today permitted the publication of the details of the investigation, as well as the fact that Yaakov Nimrodi, who is chairman of Israel Land Development and chairman of Ma’ariv, has been under house arrest for the past two days.
The investigation opened when the testimony of the prosecutor’s key witnesses began, several weeks ago. Sasson and Pridan’s versions frequently contradicted their versions to the police, causing the police investigators and prosecutors to wonder what was going on. Tam collapsed at the start of his trial testimony, and afterwards refused to continue giving evidence, claiming he was suffering from extreme stress and feared for his life.
As revealed by the court today, the police investigation discovered that Krishak, who has since been arrested, was suspected of being planted in the courtroom in which the discussions on the Ofer Nimrodi case were taking place. He tended to come to all of the court hearings, identifying himself as an author writing a book or play about the affair. In this way Krishak managed to win the trust of the prosecutors and witnesses.
The police claim that Krishak gave the information he gathered to an office established and operated by Yaakov Nimrodi and his attorneys. The police claim today that they discovered the office in raid carried out recently.
The information leaked to Nimrodi’s office was allegedly used to coerce and threaten the State’s witnesses.
Yaakov Nimrodi has been interrogated at least twice since the beginning of the week. On Monday, police investigators raided Nimrodi’s Savyon house and offices, including at “Ma’ariv” newspaper.
By web-closing, the police petition to extend Krishak’s remand to custody was still being discussed. The police are expected to investigate other people involved in the affair in the coming days. The investigators may ask to question Nimrodi’s defense attorney as well.
The police said that the case involves suspicion of suborning and threatening witnesses and obstruction of justice. One suspect, whose name has not been released to the press, has already been arrested. The investigation is being closely followed by Central District attorneys.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 20 December 2000