YNET: Pollard urges State Comptroller: Follow the money

Israeli agent urges former Justice Lindenstrauss to continue investigation into Israeli governments' efforts to release him from US jail, and rejects accusations that this kind of investigation will torpedo efforts for his release. "Perhaps we will finally understand the real reason that the Israeli establishment did not want me home," he writes. PM's office: "There is reason to fear that investigating in detail will damage the welfare of Pollard and the State's efforts to assist him."

Sharon Roffe-Ofir - YNET NEWS - March 27, 2008

[Translated to English by Justice4JP]

"Has the Government of Israel been using the Pollard case as a cover for some much larger "SLUSH FUND" all these years? Or is it something worse? It is the task of your investigation to find this out," writes Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard in a letter which was relayed to the State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss following accusations by defense officials that an investigation into the handling of the Pollard case was likely to torpedo efforts to secure his release. Pollard has been jailed in the US since 1985 after being convicted of espionage for the benefit of the Jewish State.

In a letter obtained by YNET, Pollard rejects these accusations and says that the real reason begins and ends with the Government's fear of a day when it will be clear where all the money disappeared that was meant for Pollard's welfare all of these years. "If your investigation will carefully investigate the money issues I have raised, it is my strong conviction that when the truth is finally revealed, it will cause a virtual earthquake in Israel," he said. "Perhaps we will finally understand the real reason that the Israeli establishment did not want me home."

After Esther Pollard's support of the State Comptroller yesterday, today it was her husband's turn. In the letter which was relayed by Attorney Larry Dub, Pollard urges that investigation continue. "Allow me to reassure you one more time: your investigation of the Israeli Government's handling of the Pollard case can not torpedo efforts to secure my release. There are no efforts to secure my release," Pollard wrote.

According to Pollard, when the Government realized that the media had picked upon the correspondence by him and his attorney with the Government, the Government panicked. "In my letter, I asked the Prime Minister why his office insists on disseminating lies saying that my wife, I and my associates are receiving full financial support from the government, when in fact we have never received a single cent from the Government of Israel in the 23 years that I have been in prison."

'I can be home in time for Passover'

Pollard urged the Comptroller to follow the money trail, since, as he put, if neither he nor his wife ever received the money, then who did? Pollard told Lindenstrauss that "this apparent financial malfeasance on the part of the Government may well be just the tip of the iceberg. If you follow the money trail, you may uncover something much bigger than mere financial corruption."

In concluding his letter, Pollard pointed out that "one man and one man alone can free me - (US President) George W. Bush; and one man has to make the official request for my release - Ehud Olmert. Our sources in Washington confirm that Olmert has not asked for my release.

"I can be home in time for Passover. The only thing standing in the way of my immediate release is that Olmert's unwillingness to have me home is well known to the President.

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Response from The Prime Minister's Office:

"Throughout the years the Government of Israel has done and continues to do in order to assist Jonathan Pollard and his close associates. ()The State has allocated resources for the personal needs of Mr. Pollard, and the personal needs of his present wife, Mrs. Esther Pollard. () We do not see any place for providing the information which you requested, out of fear that this will damage Mr. Pollard's welfare and the efforts of the State of Israel to assist him."