The revived investigation of the 1954 “security mishap” which led to the forced resignation of Pinhas Lavon as Minister of Defense in 1955, took on new impetus today with the disclosure that Attorney General Gideon Hausner had uncovered new evidence during his recent trip to Paris.
It was reported that the evidence indicated both that false testimony had been given against Mr. Lavon, now secretary-general of the Histadrut, in the first probe of the mishap, and also that some documents in the hearing were falsified. Mr. Lavon, who provided Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion into reopening the case after a lapse of nearly five years, was vindicated by unpublished findings of a second investigation in his contention he had no connection with the security mishap.
The testimony reportedly was taken in Paris by the Attorney General from an Israel woman who was a typist in the Israel Defense establishment six years ago and who now lives abroad. On the basis of her testimony, it was indicated, Mr. Hausner asked police to open a criminal investigation concerning the possibility of forged documents.
The Attorney General previously had expressed the opinion that any false testimony before the first inquiry body would not be punishable because of a five-year statute of limitations. However, he added, falsification of documents charges have a ten-year period for possible prosecution.
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