Israel orders government watchdog to review wiretapping

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's cabinet ordered the government's main watchdog on Sunday to review the use of wiretapping, in response to criticism over the handling of a sex offences case involving Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's deputy.

Media and commentators said the issue was an attempt by Olmert's allies to discredit the police and state prosecutors at a time when the prime minister is under criminal investigation over alleged corruption, which he denies.

After five hours of discussions, cabinet members stopped short of ordering a state inquiry similar to the one that examined shortcomings in the 2006 Lebanon war.

Ministers voted instead to have the state comptroller, the main government watchdog, investigate the use of eavesdropping in broad terms.

Olmert abstained in the vote relating to the case of Vice Premier Haim Ramon, convicted last year of sexually assaulting a female soldier serving in the prime minister's office.

Evidence used to convict Ramon of forcibly kissing the woman was obtained through a court-sanctioned police wiretap of the telephone of Olmert's long-time aide, Shula Zaken.

Ramon's lawyers had complained that evidence from the wiretapping was withheld from them. Ramon resigned from the cabinet for the trial, but was later reinstated. He was sentenced to a couple of weeks of community service.

Zaken is a key witness in the corruption investigation against the prime minister and a suspect in a separate corruption case involving Israel's Tax Authority.

State Prosecutor Moshe Lador said he was concerned a full-blown investigation, which Justice Minister Daniel Friedman had demanded, into the wiretapping in Ramon's case "could harm public confidence in the police and prosecution service".

Friedman, a close Olmert ally, had an angry exchange at the cabinet session with Attorney-General Menachem Mazuz, who could be called upon to make the final decision on whether to charge the prime minister in the corruption case.

Olmert has said he would resign if indicted in the investigation that has focused on his receipt of $150,000 from U.S. businessman Morris Talansky. Olmert has called the money legitimate contributions to past election campaigns.

Friedman said prosecutors' behavior in the Ramon case had been "shocking". Mazuz fired back that the wiretapping does not deserve an investigation and stemmed from "negligence at the most", said a political source.