Attorney Effi Naveh, who stepped down as chairman of the Israel Bar Association last week after he was arrested on suspicion of trading influence in the judicial appointment process for sexual favors, sent the Israel Police and Army Radio police reporter Hadas Shtaif a warning on Monday that he would be suing them for compensation.
Naveh was questioned by investigators from the Lahav 433 Major Crimes Unit for the third time on Monday.
In a letter dispatched via his own lawyer, Boaz Ben-Zur, Naveh is demanding that the police return Naveh's mobile devices, which were confiscated as part of the investigation, compensation in the sum of 5 million shekels ($1.4 million), and apologies from both Shtaif and the directors at Army Radio.
The letter was sent a day after Naveh filed a police complaint that his mobile devices had been stolen and cracked to read the emails and text messages they contained.
"In recent weeks, you have perpetrated a series of crimes. You have obtained Mr. Naveh's cellular devices; you broke into them; you copied their content; you looked at Mr. Naveh's personal correspondence; you broadcast the main points of it on the radio; and you handed the aforesaid correspondence over to the police," the letter reads.
Naveh is claiming that at the time his phones were hacked, Army Radio did not know what their content included.
"In other words, you have not presented us with Woodward-Bernstein-Shtaif, rather just a nosy phone hack, which is classic cheap journalism," the letter states.
The letter stresses that "a person is entitled to conduct conversations and personal correspondence, including such that might not be pleasing to someone. Conversations such as these are not in the public domain. Therefore, these leaks seriously harm Mr. Naveh's privacy and that of officials with whom he spoke."
Army Radio declined to comment.
Last Friday, the police dismissed claims by Ben-Zur that the material against Naveh had been obtained illegally.
"Every step taken during the investigation was done so lawfully," the police said in a statement.
"We are not going to confirm or deny the reports on how law enforcement obtained the information," the statement continued.
The police went on to say that because of the private nature of the information on Naveh, investigators on the case would only be allowed to examine evidence that could indicate "potentially criminal behavior."
