http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1118197312211
By YAAKOV KATZ
Jun. 8, 2005
Yitzhak Rath, CEO of the Modi'in Ezrahi [1] private investigation
firm, arrested two weeks ago in connection with the Trojan horse virus
industrial espionage affair, fell over the second floor railing in the
stairwell at the Hayarkon Police Station in Tel Aviv on Wednesday.
Rath was hospitalized in Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv in serious and
unstable condition.
Deputy Tel Aviv police chief Lt.-Cmdr. Dani Hen appointed a senior
officer to investigate the incident. Police said that while it
appeared Rath - following an interrogation session with Fraud Squad
investigators - jumped out of the window to commit suicide, other
possibilities were also being investigated.
Rath was arrested two weeks ago on suspicion his private investigation
firm planted a Trojan horse virus inside the computers of his clients'
competitors to steal classified commercial information.
The Trojan horse affair has implicated a number of leading
companies in the country's largest-ever industrial espionage affair.
Senior managers from leading companies, including Bezeq subsidiaries
Yes and Pelephone and competing telecommunications giant Cellcom, were
arrested for allegedly using the virus to obtain classified
information from their competitors. Other companies accused were Meir
Car Imports (importers of Volvo and Honda) and the Tami-4 mineral
water retailer.
Rath's company was one of several PI firms which allegedly purchased
the virus from Michael Haephrati - an Israeli living in London and
currently facing extradition to Israel - which they used to spy on
their client's competitors.
Rath's attorney, Zion Amir, said Wednesday that if police determined
his client tried committing suicide he would not be surprised.
"This is a very serious matter," Amir said. "It makes no sense that
police have been keeping him in custody for 18 days on suspicion he
may have worked together with Haephrati. Under these circumstances it
comes as no surprise that someone might commit suicide."
[1] http://www.mei.co.il/english/about.html
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