The Secret File

Ilie Botos was the last person to talk about the "top secret" file of Omar Hayssam. The former General Prosecutor talked about it in front of the Parliament’s juridical commissions. The Syrian confessed; the case prosecutor investigated. The first one disappeared; the other one was dismissed.

The case of Omar Hayssam is top secret, as the former General Prosecutor Ilie Botos publicly stated. Our sources inside the secret services have confirmed that the main target was the guns trade and that the illegal operations regarded several other people besides Hayssam.

LOST AND DISMISSED

Could one say Omar Hayssam’s disappearance is a double hit for the efforts of finding the truth? It could be. The one that started to confess isn’t doing it anymore after he had been "extracted" and taken in a safe place with the help of the Syrian Military Information Directorate. On the other hand, the case prosecutor has been dismissed and is being investigated by the Superior Council of Magistracy at present. Before leaving the country, Hayssam left some important documents regarding these operations, and these documents were to get to the Romanian authorities. However, our sources haven’t been able to say anything about their relevance or if they got to the prosecutors.

ZAHER

Zaher Iskandarani took part as a witness in the hearing regarding the file about the illegal breaking of frontiers, which has two defendants already. "I know Omar Hayssam is suffering from cancer and he is undergoing treatment in Syria, in Damascus. I cannot explain the way he got there", Zaher stated for Antena 3 right after he had got back from Austria. According to our sources, he told the prosecutors he had received more phone calls from several friends in Syria right after he got back into the country. These friends told him they had seen Hayssam, that they had met with him.

IN THE MEANTIME

Yesterday, the Israeli press stated that Omar Hayssam had wanted to offer secret information about Syria to Israel in exchange for his freedom. The person that made it possible was Israeli lawyer Mordechi Tzibin. However, the Israeli Ministry of External Affairs didn’t send the offer to the Mossad. Shocked by the refusal, Tzibin filed a complaint against the juridical adviser of the Ministry, lawyer Ehud Keinan, for inadvertence. According to Mordechi Tzibin, quoted by Realitatea TV, the Syrian was the one that "cut the receipts" for the guns agreement signed by Russia and Syria two years ago. Moreover, according to Tzibin, his client had some connections with Hezbollah. The Israeli media also reminds Hayssam’s connections with the heads of the Syrian political hierarchy. However, sources inside the Romanian secret services told us they didn’t believe in the Israeli newspapers, which they see as a "challenge" with the goal of getting Hayssam in trouble as far as his relationship with the Syrian secret services is concerned.

HEARING

Tzibin is an external collaborator of the Law Office that defends Mohammad Munaf for his legal dispute against the United States of America. Our sources have told us that, in April this year, before Omar had got out of the temporary arrest, Tzibin, as the lawyer of the Omar family, asked for a hearing at the Supreme Court Prosecutor’s Office. The case prosecutor agreed to the meeting, but the lawyer didn’t show up.

TARTOUSI, ONE MORE INTERDICTION

Syrian ship owner Mustafa Tartousi (photo), investigated for having had helped Omar Hayssam to run away from the country aboard Imam-T, came to the Bucharest Appeal Court yesterday. According to the new penal procedure Code, the extension of any interdiction period has to be made by the prosecutor that investigates the case. Tartousi’s lawyer referred to this aspect and the judges sent the file back to the Prosecutors’ Office. In the exact same day in which the temporary arrest was to expire.

STATEMENT

"My relations with Hayssam were strictly professional and I have only seen him once or twice. However, the last time we met, it was four years ago", Tartousi said when he exited the Court of Law. Tartousi stated he would remain in Romania even if he were allowed to leave the country. "This is my home. I only leave for business. I am innocent and, as a proof for that, I came back even if I was out of the country when I found out Hayssam had left Romania." According to our sources, the Prosecutors’s Office extended the interdiction against him with 30 more days. (M. Pasa)

Translated by Sorin Balan