The journalist who revealed Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was being investigated over a $1.5 million loan has revealed his source under interrogation, the Israeli justice ministry today confirmed.
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A special commission appointed by the ministry after Mr Baruch Kra published the story in the
Haaretz
newspaper told interrogators the information had come from Tel Aviv prosecutor Ms Liora Glatt Berkovich.
The judge was subsequently interrogated and confessed to being the source of the leak but insisted she had acted on her own initiative. She was not arrested but restrictions were applied.
The statement explained that the journalist had not been interrogated to reveal his sources but rather because he is accused of "obstructing justice".
On January 7th, Haaretzrevealed that Mr Sharon and his sons Omri and Gilad had received a $1.5 million loan from a South African businessman to cover debts run up during the 1999 elections for Likud leadership.
The allegation was the most recent corruption scandal surrounding the prime minister and his family.
As Mr Sharon's ppopularity in the run up to next week dipped following the revelation, Likud accused Labour party leader Mr Amram Mitzna of orchestrating the leak in a last-ditch attempt to close the gap three weeks before the January 28th vote.
Haaretzvigorously criticised the judiciary's methods.
"The attorney general [Mr Elyakim Rubinstein] is very much mistaken. Instead of investigating corruption suspicions inside the government, he is trying to intimidate the press to prevent it from carrying out its duty," the editorial board of the paper said today.
"He is harming Israelis' right to be informed as well as the freedom of the press and the foundations of democracy," the statement added.
AFP