-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- from: http://www.aci.net/kalliste/ Click Here: <A HREF="http://www.aci.net/kalliste/">The Home Page of J. Orlin Grabbe</A> ----- Hackers vs. Politicians Israel's Presidential Cash Scandal Heats Up Foul-smelling cream pie facial. JERUSALEM - Israel's top law-enforcement official ordered the police Thursday to conduct a criminal investigation of President Ezer Weizman, whose receipt of hundreds of thousands of dollars from a French textile magnate a decade ago has scandalized the nation. The decision by Attorney General Elyakim Rubenstein is the latest blow to the prestige of Mr. Weizman, 75, a cantankerous war hero and one of the last of a generation of Israeli statesmen instrumental in the formation of the nation. Mr. Weizman, who occupies the largely ceremonial role of head of state, has been the subject of a steady drip of revelations this year concerning cash transfers of $453,000 from Edouard Saroussi, a French businessman. The money was deposited into accounts controlled by Mr. Weizman's attorney from 1988 to 1993 before he became president but while he was serving as a member of Parliament and a cabinet minister. Until now, Mr. Weizman has insisted the cash from Mr. Saroussi was a gift from ''a close friend'' that came with no strings attached. But the Israeli Justice Ministry announced Thursday that it had found ''alleged evidence of a relationship of a business nature between Mr. Weizman and a firm linked to Mr. Saroussi between the years 1983 and 1984.'' In 1984, Mr. Weizman began serving as a minister in the government of then Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Mr. Weizman, already under tremendous pressure to resign, is the first Israeli president to be placed under criminal investigation. Nearly every newspaper in the country has called for him to step down, and even his allies in Parliament, which re-elected him for a second five-year term as president in 1998, have offered him only lukewarm public support. Similarly, Prime Minister Ehud Barak has said he is confident Mr. Weizman will ''know what to do.'' But Mr. Weizman has insisted he is innocent of any wrongdoing and was under no legal obligation to report the gift. He has said repeatedly he will not quit, and his aides repeated that line Thursday. ''Unequivocally, the president is innocent, spotless,'' his attorney, Yaacov Weinroth, told a news conference broadcast live on Israeli television. ''The president doesn't intend to resign.'' It was unclear exactly what the focus of the criminal investigation will be, although there was some speculation it will be conducted by specialists in fraud or tax evasion. According to some analysts, the statute of limitations could already have expired on at least some laws Mr. Weizman may have broken. Nonetheless, the public clamor surrounding Mr. Weizman has largely drowned out the sticky legal questions of his case. Political analysts and members of Parliament, convinced the president will have to resign sooner or later, have busied themselves speculating upon his possible successors. Many Israelis, having regarded Mr. Weizman as a lovable if crochety national uncle, have sadly concluded that the sums of money he accepted - and allegations that he may have been the recipient of a good deal more cash, as well as a luxury car - have made his position untenable. That Mr. Weizman, a former air force chief, deputy army commander and minister of defense, should have pocketed large sums of money from a foreign tycoon strikes many people here as outrageous, stupid and unpardonable. ''The fact that he will have to terminate such a star-studded career,'' wrote Yoel Marcus, columnist for the daily newspaper Ha'aretz, ''is tantamount to having an entire generation of Israelis with a foul-smelling shipped cream pie smeared all over their faces.'' The Weizman affair unfolds against a lurid backdrop of other scandals and investigations of public figures. Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under investigation on suspicion of having accepted bribes. Mr. Netanyahu's justice minister, Tzachi Hanegbi, has been indicted for accepting bribes. And Aryeh Deri, former leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, is appealing his conviction last year on bribery charges. Even Prime Minister Barak has been questioned this week by the authorities, who are looking into allegations of irregularities in the financing of his campaign for office last spring. International Herald Tribune, January 21, 2000 Assassination Politics Suicide in German Political Cash Scandal Now that he is conveniently dead, the investigation will begin. THE funding crisis engulfing Germany's Christian Democrat Union reached new heights last night with a disclosure that its chief financial officer had killed himself and is to be investigated for embezzlement. Although the CDU leadership maintained earlier yesterday that the suicide of Wolfgang Hüllen, 49, head of the finance and budget department since 1984, had nothing to do with the donations scandal, Berlin prosecutors said he was the subject of inquiries. After a suicide note was found in Mr Hüllen's home, a spokesman for the prosecutors' office was quoted as saying: "We are investigating on suspicion of embezzlement. This is based on a passage in a letter left behind by Mr Hüllen." The death, and the party's initial reaction to it, will further damage the CDU's reputation after several weeks in which disclosures of irregularities have emerged almost daily. The German parliament, the Bundestag, had earlier held a debate on the CDU financial crisis. Both Wolfgang Schaüble, the CDU leader, and the former party leader and chancellor, Helmut Kohl, have admitted accepting large sums in breach of funding rules. Mr Kohl has refused to reveal the names of the donors, adding to the suspicion that the money was paid in return for political favours when the CDU was in power. When word that Mr Hüllen had been found hanged in his home reached parliament, proceedings were suspended while Mr Schaüble convened an emergency meeting of party heads. Soon afterwards Joachim Hörster, the CDU chief whip, insisted that there was no link to the financial scandal. He told reporters: "According to the information we have so far, the motives for the suicide were of a personal nature." Today's Berliner Zeitung newspaper claims that Hüllen's suicide note said he was afraid that a financial audit would show he had illegally transferred funds from the account of the parliamentary group. The note also drew attention to certain "financial practices of the CDU", the report added. Yesterday was also the first day of a an all-party parliamentary inquiry into the funding scandal. After convening for the first time, the 11-member committee said it would summon at least 26 people starting with Mr Kohl. Among the others it wants to question are Mr Schaüble and Karlheinz Schreiber, the arms dealer and lobbyist whose disclosures about donations embroiled the party in the scandal in the first place. There are also signs that senior figures in the governing Social Democrats, including the German President, Johannes Rau, may be heading for trouble over their finances. An investigation is underway in North Rhine Westphalia into whether politicians accepted flights paid for by a bank. The London Telegraph, January 21, 2000 ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, All My Relations. Omnia Bona Bonis, Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soap-boxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. 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