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Report: Lieberman Denied Access to Classified Documents

November 10, 2011

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman was not allowed to view secret documents when he served as Minister for Strategic Affairs, journalist Amir Rappaport revealed on the Israel Defense website on Thursday.

Lieberman held the post in Ehud Olmert’s government from 2006 to 2008.

According to Rappaport’s report, when Lieberman was in charge of the Iranian issue as Minister for Strategic Affairs, he was not entitled to review all the existing Israeli material on the issue because the Israel Security Agency (ISA) said there was a “security clearance problem” involved.

Rappaport noted that Minister Moshe Ya’alon, who currently holds the post of Strategic Affairs Minister, has much greater access to the relevant information on Iran than Lieberman did.

The report did not provide details about the security clearance problem that prevented Lieberman from having access to classified documents, but it has been previously been reported that Lieberman is to be indicted on charges of fraud, breach of trust, money laundering and harassing a witness.

Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein announced in April his intention to indict Lieberman, saying he will hold hearings before proceeding with the indictment in which Lieberman’s lawyers can defend him.

The most recent investigation into Lieberman began in 2006. On August 2, 2009, police gave evidence gathered in the Lieberman investigation to the state prosecution with a recommendation to indict him.

Police suspect Lieberman obtained NIS 10 million, which was funneled through six to eight straw man companies. These acts allegedly occurred during his tenures as Transportation Minister, National Infrastructures Minister, and Strategic Affairs Minister.

Lieberman is also suspected of having received an illegal tip-off from then-Ambassador to Belarus Ze’ev Ben-Aryeh in 2008, which allowed him to subvert investigations into his conduct.

MK David Rotem, Chairman of the Knesset Constitution Committee and a member of Lieberman’s party Yisrael Beiteinu, has said he’s convinced Lieberman will prove his innocence.

“Lieberman was investigated for more than ten years,” Rotem said after Weinstein’s announcement on the indictment. “The police recommended he be indicted for bribery and fraud, but now that the prosecutor has gone over the case for bribes and related items what is left? Only fraud and breach of trust. It’s a junk-bin clause you can throw at anyone. None of this has anything to do with money laundering.”

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