Israeli president grilled again over sex claims

President Moshe Katsav was on Thursday (local time) grilled by police for a second day over allegations of sexual harassment, the latest blow to Israel's embattled leadership reeling over failures in the Lebanon war.

Police investigators questioned the 61-year-old head of state at his Jerusalem residence for seven hours, following a 5-hour interrogation on Wednesday over whether he had forced up to three women employees to have sex with him.

Police were to continue question Katsav next week.

Officers are probing which, if any, of the allegations Katsav may have committed, ranging from illegal consensual sex to rape, local media reported.

Katsav who could be forced to resign has denied the allegations against him and has rejected calls that he step down pending the investigation.

"President Katsav has not committed any offence. He has never sexually harassed anyone. He is ready to co-operate with the investigators and will answer any questions they wish," Zion Amir, one of his lawyers, has said.

Should the Iranian-born Katsav fall, he would become the second consecutive Israeli president to resign from the largely ceremonial post amid scandal.

One former senior employee at his office has testified that the head of state coerced her into having sex, hinting she would lose her job otherwise. She was reported to have passed a lie-detector test.

Two other employees of the presidency have also filed complaints against Katsav, the Haaretz daily reported.

The case allegedly came to light when a woman tried to blackmail Katsav for money and a job, threatening to file sexual harassment charges, at which point the president alerted Attorney General Menachem Mazuz.

Earlier this week, police searched Katsav's home and office, confiscating computers and documents in what is fast becoming the biggest in a series of sexual and financial scandals compromising senior Israeli state figures.

Although the probe is expected to take several more months, MPs have already begun to demand that the former transport and tourism minister step down.

A simple request by 20 MPs could see him summoned before a parliamentary commission where a three-quarters majority could lead to a hearing before the full parliament. A vote by 90 of the 120 MPs could see him forced to resign.

Formerly a leader of the opposition Likud party, Katsav emigrated to Israel shortly after the Jewish state was founded in 1948 and was elected the largely ceremonial head of state in 2000, the first conservative to hold the post.

Scandal forced his predecessor, the late Ezer Weizman, to resign after revelations that he received around US$450,000 as "gifts" from French millionaire Edouard Saroussi in the 1980s, when Weizman was an MP and minister.

The Katsav affair is the latest blow to hit Israel's leadership, with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government steering its way through public anger at perceived mismanagement of the Lebanon war.

Haim Ramon, who resigned as justice minister this week, has been charged with sexually harassing a female soldier.

Tzahi Hanegbi, a senior member of Olmert's Kadima party and chairman of parliament's foreign affairs and defence committee, is under investigation for fraud, perjury and breach of trust.

Olmert, who has seen his approval ratings plummet in the three months since he took office in May, also faces a possible probe over a property deal.

Source: China Daily