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| Down Under |
| Ruddock's spy scandal link (More on the Israeli expulsion from OZ) |
| 2005-02-17 |
| THE Israeli diplomat at the centre of a spy scandal has claimed his friendship with Attorney-General Philip Ruddock's youngest daughter, Caitlin, was behind a decision to expel him from Australia. The claims have emerged in a debriefing that Amir Lati reportedly gave to the Israeli Foreign Ministry. Mr Lati, the second secretary at the Israeli embassy in Canberra, claimed he was invited to attend Christmas lunch at the Ruddocks' Pennant Hills home in Sydney's northwest last year, but was barred after the Government began moves to expel him. It was on the recommendation of the Australian Secret Intelligence Organsiation - the domestic spy agency for which Mr Ruddock is responsible - that Mr Lati was given his marching orders in late December. Mr Lati's alleged relationship with a female Defence Department employee with high-level security access has been proffered as a reason for his explusion. Mr Ruddock yesterday denied any connection between Mr Lati's links to his family and the reasons the Israeli diplomat was asked to leave the country. But he refused to divulge whether his daughter's links with Mr Lati, who is in his early 30s, was brought to the attention of ASIO. The new twist in the spy saga follows the publication of the envoy's claims in the respected Hebrew-language Israeli newspaper Maar'iv. The report, reproduced in the Australian Jewish News yesterday, cited the Israeli Foreign Ministry as saying that Mr Lati believed his friendship with Caitlin, 26, who is an accountancy lecturer at the University of NSW, was connected to his expulsion. The Australian has confirmed that Mr Lati first met Ms Ruddock six years earlier, when the two were studying together in Beijing, and that they renewed their friendship when Mr Lati was posted to Canberra in late 2003. But Mr Ruddock told the Australian Jewish News that "any acquaintance or contact Mr Lati had with members of (my) family is totally irrelevant to Mr Lati's departure from Australia". A spokeswoman for the minister yesterday confirmed his comments to The Australian. When approached by The Australian at her office yesterday, Ms Ruddock declined to comment on the nature of her relationship with Mr Lati, or why he had been expelled from Australia. "You're only here because of who my father is. I have no comment to make," Ms Ruddock said. Directing all questions to the office of the Attorney-General, she refused to divulge why Mr Lati had been banned from attending Christmas lunch with the Ruddock family, or whether Mr Lati had also been in a relationship with a female Australian defence official. "I will happily talk with you about accountancy courses, but nothing else," she said. More at the link. The government's hardline immigration policies are popular with the electorate while the Media hates them. Ruddock was the Immigration Minister so he is high on their hitlist. This may be just the MSM fishing for a scandal where none exists. |
| Posted by:phil_b |
| #2 Me too Ship. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-02-17 9:25:14 PM |
| #1 I will happily talk with you about accountancy courses, but nothing else," she said Now, that's the best no comment I've heard in awhile. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-02-17 6:03:13 PM |