Supreme Court Orders Police to Respond on Possible Probe of Attorney General in Sde Teiman Case

Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg ordered Israel Police Commissioner Danny Levy to submit a response to a petition by Likud MK Avichai Boaron and the Lavi organization, who are demanding that Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara be investigated over the former military advocate general affair and the Sde Teiman case. The petition argues that Baharav-Miara should face a police probe on suspicion of acting while in a conflict of interest in handling the affair.

The court had rejected an earlier version of the petition several months ago, saying it was premature. Boaron and Lavi then refiled, and Sohlberg now instructed the police to explain why no investigation has been opened into the attorney general. The petition says Baharav-Miara was involved in decisions and steps concerning the leak examination and the investigation, despite what it describes as a real personal and institutional conflict of interest.

The petition also claims material information about the involvement of staff in the attorney general’s office and the Justice Ministry was not fully presented to the officials who examined the conflict-of-interest issue, or to the court. In his brief ruling, Sohlberg told the police commissioner to file a preliminary response and address the petition’s claims, including why no investigation was opened.

Boaron said Baharav-Miara did not tell Justice Ministry attorney general Tzachi Kutik in real time that her team was recusing itself from the investigation because of a conflict of interest, and should have reported it. He accused her of hiding the truth, continuing to manage the investigation and allegedly covering it up at the most critical stage, and said she must answer for what he called serious fraud and breach of trust. Boaron and Lavi say they were the first petitioners in the Sde Teiman affair and previously won a Supreme Court ruling against Baharav-Miara and the State Prosecutor’s Office over an institutional conflict of interest.