Key red-faced after Israeli spy scandal

AAP
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has landed himself in hot water with Israel over his handling of a bizarre tale of would-be spies, hacking and a speedy post-quake escape.

The claim was explosive: a New Zealand newspaper, Southland Times, published accusations earlier this month that a group of Israeli backpackers caught up in Christchurch's February earthquake were in fact spies linked to the Israeli secret service, Mossad.

The newspaper claimed a New Zealand secret service officer revealed fears these four "agents", who were in a van that was crushed in the quake, had hacked into the police national computer system after the quake, gaining access to highly sensitive files.

The driver of the van, Ofer Benyamin Mizrahi, 23, was killed instantly and the other three left the country within 12 hours, alerting suspicions.

The newspaper reported Mizrahi was found with five passports, raising fears of a repeat of a 2004 episode in which two suspected Mossad agents were convicted of passport fraud in Auckland.

To add to the suspicions were reports an unaccredited Israeli search and rescue team had been found inside Christchurch's destroyed CBD in the days after the quake, which killed 181 people.
The story, which blended New Zealand's worst disaster in decades with the mystery of foreign spies, left New Zealanders shocked.

Asked to comment, Mr Key at first declined, saying it was "not in the national interest", but raised suspicions further by confirming he had "a number of calls" from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the day of the quake.

The story and the vague government response triggered a rash of angry editorials in the Israeli media, including the Jerusalem Post, which accused the country of "blatant prejudice".

"The far-fetched fiction disseminated by New Zealand's news outlets seizes on every Israeli facet of the episode - no matter how innocuous - as evidence of nefariouscloak-and-dagger schemes," it wrote.

After his initial stone-walling, Mr Key admitted he hadn't dealt with the issue well, but then went on to upset Israelis more by confirming New Zealand intelligence services had been investigating the claims.
But Mr Key insisted the investigation had found no evidence of wrongdoing.

"Security agencies conducted the investigation and found no evidence that the people were anything other than backpackers," he told journalists.

There had been no breach of the country's computer networks, and no unauthorised access to the Christchurch "red zone" by Israelis, he said.

"The investigations that have been undertaken have been thorough and have found no evidence of a link between the group and Israeli intelligence."

It even turned out there were no "multiple" passports, just two held by the deceased Mizrahi, who also had citizenship in a European country.

And there was in fact just one conversation with Mr Netanyahu, Mr Key said.

The Israeli ambassador for the South Pacific, Shemi Tzur, said he was shocked that there had ever been a suggestion of a Mossad presence in Christchurch, saying the claim was "science fiction".

But for the man behind the initial Times story, respected journalist Fred Tulett, the matter is far from over.

Mr Tulett continues to stand by his story, saying his source has confirmed that despite Mr Key's comments, the official investigation is continuing.

Tamara McLean, AAP New Zealand Correspondent

Interviewing vs. Interrogation

A concept we teach in our basic course is, "If you're going to interview, interview. If you're going to interrogate, interrogate." There are two important parts of this lesson. The first is that there are significant procedural differences between interviewing and interrogation. The second is that if these procedures are intermingled, the investigator will often be ineffective in accomplishing the goals of either one. 



An Interview 

An interview is a non-accusatory question and answer session with a suspect, victim or witness. The goal of an interview is to gather information and make an assessment of the subject's credibility. Some of this information will be investigative in nature. Examples of investigative questions include, "When did you arrive home last night?"; "Do you have access to a handgun?"; "Do you know who Gloria Smith is?" Other interview questions are specifically designed to elicit behavioral responses from a subject such as, "Do you think this lady really was raped?" or, "Tell me why you wouldn't force a woman to have sex with you?" 

It is important that the investigator maintain a non-accusatory tone and demeanor during an interview. This is so even when he knows that the subject has lied to an investigative question or exhibits clear indications of deception to a question designed to evoke behavioral responses. Under this circumstance if the investigator becomes accusatory or challenging the subject will become guarded and reluctant to offer information. A subject will offer much more meaningful information if he does not feel threatened or intimidated. In short an investigator should allow, and in some cases, even invite subjects to lie during an interview. As long as the subject continues to answer the investigator's question information is being learned. 

During an interview the investigator should talk about 20% of the time and the person being interviewed 80%. To accomplish this balance, the investigator should keep his questions succinct and, whenever possible, elicit a narrative response from the subject. Too often, investigators reveal so much information through their questions that following an interview the subject has learned much more about the investigation than what the investigator has learned about the suspect's possible involvement in the crime. 

An Interrogation 

The purpose for an interrogation is to elicit the truth from a person whom the investigator believes has lied during an interview. It represents, therefore, an effort to persuade the subject to tell the truth. In some instances, an innocent person will be interrogated. Under this circumstance interrogation tactics used must not be so persuasive as to elicit a false confession. A particular tactic to avoid is to threaten the subject with inevitable consequences followed by a promise of leniency if the subject confesses. 

The interrogation should not consist of accusatory questions for this will only lead to further denials from the subject. Rather, it should consist of a monologue during which the investigator makes statements designed to persuade the subject to tell the truth. The monologue often addresses the circumstances which led up to the subject's commission of the crime. In addition, logic and rationale arguments (based on evidence) may be used to persuade the subject to tell the truth. 

During an interrogation, the investigator's demeanor should be understanding toward the subject's criminal behavior. It is psychologically much easier for a subject to tell the truth to someone who appears to understand why he committed the crime. At no time should the investigator remind the subject of the seriousness of his offense or possible punishment for it. Such reminders merely reinforce the subject's effort to avoid consequences through continued denials. 

If the investigator's persuasive statements have an impact on the subject, the guilty subject often exhibits signs which indicate that he is considering telling the truth. At this point the investigator asks a question which offers the subject two choices concerning some aspect of the crime. For example, "Did you plan this out for months and months in advance or did it pretty much happen on the spur of the moment?" If the subject now acknowledges that the crime happened on the spur of the moment, this represents his initial admission of guilt. 

Once the subject makes an initial admission of guilt, active persuasion stops and the investigator returns to the interviewing mode where a full confession is elicited by asking non-accusatory questions. If the subject is truly guilty of the offense he will be able to provide the investigator with details of the crime that only the guilty person would know. 

On the other hand, if the investigator makes no clear distinction between interviewing and interrogation, less information will be learned when questions are asked during the interaction that resembles "interviewing" and the persuasive impact of the "interrogation" stage will be minimized. Of most concern, however, is that the guilty subject may never truly be persuaded to reach a stage where he is willing to openly talk about his crime (the first admission of guilt). Under this circumstance, often active persuasion is used to extract details of the confession piece by piece. The voluntariness of that confession, and even its trustworthiness, may later be challenged in court.
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Fraud victims reject $12 million offer from RBC

The victims of a massive banking fraud in Montreal have rejected a $12.5 million offer from the Royal Bank of Canada, dismissing the proposed settlement as "a joke" and just "pennies on the dollar."

The victims of disgraced financier Earl Jones are seeking $40 million in a class-action suit for the bank's alleged negligence in its handling of his accounts. Jones was arrested in 2009 and sentenced to 11 years in prison earlier this year on charges stemming from a lengthy, multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme.

"All these cheques were cashed at the Royal Bank without the necessary attention paid to whether they were double endorsed or illegally cashed, They need to step up to the plate," one of Jones' former clients Sue Brown told CTV News.

Kevin Curran, whose mother is also among those who invested with Jones, dismissed the $12 million offer as "a joke." Curran said he has spent much of the last two years helping his mother put her finances back in order.

An internal bank memo from 2001 questioned how the account was being used.

More recently, RBC told the Montreal Gazette it was "no more than Earl Jones's bank and one more target for his deceit."

Earl Jones victims will rally on July 16 outside a Montreal-area RBC branch where he did business for decades.

Jones' former clients have had better luck with the federal and provincial governments, from which tax refunds have recently begun to appear. During the scam, they paid taxes on interest for money they never actually earned.

A year and a half after many lost their savings, many are now seeing some relief.

"(Money) has started to trickle in from both the federal and provincial government," said Brown.

Another client, Margaret Murnighan said her $13,000 refund is a welcome boost to her now dire financial state.

"I exist these days; I don't truly live because there's always this nagging concern about finances," she explained.

CTV.ca News Staff

With a report from CTV Montreal's Aphrodite Salas

Date:

 Sunday Jul. 10, 2011 11:07 AM ET

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20110710/earl-jones-victims-reject-rbc-settlement-offer-110710/

Philadelphia PD Assigns More Officers To Intelligence

http://www.lawofficer.com/article/news/philadelphia-pd-assigns-more-o

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- The Philadelphia Police Department has assigned additional officers to gather street-level intelligence in the city's most dangerous neighborhoods, a tactic aimed at reducing retaliatory shootings and other crimes.

Eleven officers are being moved out of patrol units and will be assigned to work on information-gathering. The transfers will double the number of officers assigned to track street-level intelligence, said Deputy Commissioner Richard Ross.

Those officers will work with tactical officers in the city's 11 busiest districts, where one main goal will be preventing the acts of retaliation that often follow shootings, Ross said. Each officer will spend most of his time in one district in an effort to get to know both the residents and the criminals in that community, he said.

"This is an enhanced version of what we have already been doing," Ross said. "We're looking to develop as much intelligence as possible, and we're hoping to do that by having officers really drill down on one district."

Shootings can set off a chain reaction of violence, particularly when drugs are involved. Police are hoping that with more officers working the streets and picking up neighborhood gossip, some retaliatory shootings may be avoided.

If someone planning a crime knows that police are watching him, Ross said, he might think twice.

"The premise is to look at the victims in some of these cases, look at the shooters, and try to pick up on who's likely to strike back," Ross said. "Statistically, it's not possible to prevent all shootings. But we'd like to stave off the second and third shootings."

In addition, officers may end up hearing about other neighborhood issues, such as burglaries and drug dealing.

"This is as much about understanding who the good people are in a neighborhood," Ross said. "The goal is to improve the quality of life for everyone in the area."

Finding Dormant Bank Accounts

At the end of December 2009 the Bank of Canada had approximately 1,122,000 unclaimed balances, worth some $395 million on their books. Over 93.4% of these were under $1,000.00, representing 30.82% of the total value outstanding. The oldest balance dates back to 1900.

Search unclaimed accounts in Canada  - http://ucbswww.bank-banque-canada.ca/scripts/search_english.cfm

Search unclaimed accounts in the United States - http://www.unclaimed.org/