Attorney General Menachem (Meni) Mazuz has decided to open an investigation against former Minister of National Infrastructures MK Joseph Paritzky (Shinui), whom the prime minister fired. Suspicions against members of the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) workers committee and private investigator Yaakov Eshel will also be investigated.
Mazuz’s chief assistant today notified Israel Police chief of investigations Commander Moshe Mizrahi of the decision to open an investigation. He said that following preliminary consultations with senior officials in the Office of the State Attorney, Mazuz had decided to open a criminal investigation into suspicions raised by press reports and related events.
The investigation will concern Paritzky and other parties allegedly linked to the affair. Paritzky is suspected attempting two years ago to frame then-MK Avraham Poraz (Shinui), who is currently Minister of Internal Affairs.
The investigation will also determine whether the attempt by members of the IEC workers committee to collect negative information about Poraz constitutes a crime. Poraz initiated a bill limiting free electricity for IEC employees. The police are also likely to investigate whether the contents of a recorded conversation between Eshel and Paritzky were used to blackmail Paritzky when he was Minister of National Infrastructures.
After sifting the initial findings, Mazuz will decide on further directions for the investigation.
Adv. Dr. Jacob Weinroth, Paritzky’s lawyer, said in response, “There is not a trace of anything criminal in these recordings. If someone puts temptation in the way of another person, assumes for some reason that that person will be unable to resist the temptation, and then brings the matter to the attention of the police, then no criminal act has been committed.
”When you hear the whole recording, and view its contents, there is no doubt that that is what happened. No conspiracy to commit an illegal act took place in the conversation with the private investigator.”
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on July 12, 2004