Police look to question Minister Chikli in Shin Bet leaks probe

The Department for Internal Police Investigations (DIPI) has requested permission to question Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli under caution over suspicions that he was passed classified information by a Shin Bet official, Hebrew media reports.

Chikli has now written to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who must approve requests to investigate cabinet ministers, to tell her he became aware of DIPI’s request yesterday after a journalist asked him for his response to the development.

In the same letter, the minister alleges that Baharav-Miara has a long list of conflicts of interest, and that she therefore should not make the call on whether or not he should be questioned under caution.

A suspect within the Shin Bet referred to only by his initial “Aleph” was arrested in April on suspicion of passing classified information to Chikli and two journalists.

The information he allegedly passed to the three individuals was tied to Shin Bet probes into the potential infiltration of Kahanist elements into the Israel Police. Channel 12 reporter Amit Segal reported on that probe in March, prompting an internal Shin Bet and DIPI investigation into the source of the leak.