Nimrodi investigation had mole

Publisher's father questioned; Irangate report cleared Bush

By Nicole Krau, Ha'aretz Police Correspondent

Police Superintendent Yaron Aram, who has been with the National

Unit to Expose International Crimes for five years, served as an

undercover agent in the investigation of Ma'ariv publisher Ofer

Nimrodi from the outset of the secret probe into the case, Ha'aretz

has learned.

Channel One news yesterday first reported on the existence of an

undercover agent, without naming him.

The evidence Aram collected constitutes a major part of the case the

police are building against Ofer Nimrodi and others on charges of

obstructing the investigation. Aram found prima facie incriminating

evidence against a retired senior police officer, Tzion Sasson, who

was allegedly paid by Ofer Nimrodi to obtain details about the

investigation against him.

In another development yesterday, police conducted a thorough

search of the home of Yaakov Nimrodi, Ofer Nimrodi's father, in the

upscale community of Savyon outside Tel Aviv.

Ya'akov Nimrodi, 73, was taken the international crimes division

headquarters in Petah Tikva, where he was questioned for several

hours.

The investigation against him is focusing on the reasons for his transfer

of hundreds of thousands of dollars to Yigal Tam and Rafi Pridan.

The police suspect that the money was meant to obstruct the

investigation against Ofer Nimrodi for illegal wiretapping for which

Ofer Nimrodi eventually served time in jail, as well as to hamper the

present probe. (Ofer Nimrodi is suspected of a series of crimes,

including conspiracy to commit murder.)

The suspicion is that the funds were transferred from the insurance

company of Ya'akov Nimrodi's Hachsharat Hayishuv holding

company, in the guise of a loan.

Nimrodi senior was also asked about secret documents relating to the

Irangate affair, which were found in an earlier police search. As far as

is known, he claimed that he needed them to write a book on the

affair, in which he played a part by selling arms to the Iranians.

Following his interrogation, Ya'akov Nimrodi was released on bail.

The private investigator Oded Ben Dov was also released from

custody yesterday on NIS 10,000 bail, and was placed under house

arrest until next Sunday.

Ben Dov, who is alleged to have been contracted by Ofer Nimrodi as

his hit man to eliminate Ya'akov Tzur, a state's witness in the

wiretapping case, was also found last week to be in possession of a

secret document relating to the Irangate affair. That document, it now

turns out, is a censored version of a report prepared by Raphael

Vardi about possible financial irregularities committed by Israelis in

the affair.

According to a source close to Ben Dov, the original version of the

report cited George Bush, who was U.S. vice-president at the time,

as having known about the illegal sale of U.S. arms to Iran via Israel

and the subsequent transfer of funds from the sale to the Contras in

Nicaragua. But in the censored version, Bush's name is omitted so as

not to injure his reputation.

This version of the report was written in English and sent by Elyakim

Rubinstein - then the cabinet secretary - to the Congressional

committee that was investigating Irangate. The document found in Ben

Dov's house is a Hebrew translation of the censored version of the

report.