Former Russian minister deported

CNN NEWS, 12.02.06: Russia's former nuclear energy minister has been extradited to face corruption charges in his homeland, rather than the US, where he is also wanted. The Supreme Court in Switzerland, where Yevgeny Adamov was being held, this week overturned an earlier ruling to hand him to the US. The US accuses Mr Adamov of embezzling up to $9m it gave to improve security at Russian nuclear facilities. Moscow filed its own extradition request shortly after the US. Mr Adamov, who was held on a US warrant in Bern in May, will now face charges in Russia of embezzling $17m.

Russia was fighting for Mr Adamov to be returned for fear that his detailed knowledge of the country's nuclear weapons programme could fall into US hands. The nuclear physicist, who was Russia's atomic energy minister from 1998 to 2001, accepts his extradition to his homeland but continues to deny the charges. Mr Adamov was flown out of Zurich airport late on Friday aboard a specially chartered Russian'jet, the Swiss justice ministry said.

THE WASHINGTON POST, 21.01.06.

Spying against US

A former Defense Department analyst was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison yesterday for passing government secrets to two employees of a pro-Israel lobbying group and to an Israeli government official in Washington.

The 58-year-old Larry Franklin has pleaded guilty to giving secrets to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. He said he had been unhappy with aspects of US foreign policy and had hoped the lobbyists would use their contacts to get policies he was unhappy with changed. He thought he could influence it through "back channels." He did not specify what US policy he was particularly frustrated with. According to the charges against Franklin he passed information from 2002 to 2004. He also said he had met the political officer from the Israeli embassy at least nine times during the same period. He had also given information to an Israeli diplomat, but played down its importance. But he said he believed the Israeli government was already in possession of the information.

U.S. District Judge Ellis said Franklin did not intend to harm the United States when he gave the classified data to the employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, one of Washington's most influential lobbying organizations. "I believe, I accept your explanation that you didn't want to hurt the United States, that you are a loyal American," said Ellis, who added that Franklin was "concerned about certain threats to the United States" and thought he had to hand information about the threats to others to bring it to the attention of the National Security Council. But Franklin still must be punished, Ellis said, because he violated important laws governing the non-disclosure of secret information.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Gregory told Ellis that Franklin had reason to believe that the information could be used against the United States. "When you disclose national defense information to people not entitled to receive it," he said, "the U.S. government loses control of that information and there is no way to know in whose hands it might fall." Plato Cacheris, Franklin's attorney, emphasized that Franklin is "a longtime dedicated public servant" who has had "a long and distinguished career." He said that Franklin has been cooperating extensively with investigators and that he expects the government to file a motion later to reduce Franklin's sentence. Franklin has been freed on bail until their prosecution case is concluded. The sentencing in U.S. District Court closed one chapter of a long-running investigation into an alleged conspiracy to obtain and illegally pass classified information to foreign officials and reporters. But with the case still shrouded in secrecy, yesterday's hearing cast no new light on the information Franklin provided, whether its transmission harmed the United States and whether anyone will be charged other than the two lobbyists, who have been fired by AIPAC and are awaiting trial.

Franklin pleaded guilty in October to three counts: conspiracy to communicate national defense information, conspiracy to communicate classified information to an agent of a foreign government, and unlawful retention of national defense information. Court documents said Franklin provided classified data — including information about a Middle Eastern country's activities in Iraq and weapons tests conducted by a foreign country — to the lobbyists and to an unnamed "foreign official." The Middle Eastern country was not named, but Franklin disclosed at his plea hearing that some of the material related to Iran. He also said in court that the foreign official was Naor Gilon, who was the political officer at the Israeli Embassy before being recalled last summer. Israeli officials have said they are cooperating in the investigation, and they denied any wrongdoing.

Franklin is expected to testify against the two former AIPAC lobbyists, Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, at their trial, which is scheduled for April. Rosen is charged with two counts related to unlawful disclosure of national defense information obtained from Franklin and other unidentified government officials on topics including Iran, Saudi Arabia and al Qaeda. Weissman faces one count of conspiracy to illegally communicate national defense information. The FBI monitored a series of meetings between Franklin and the former AIPAC officials dating back to early 2003, multiple sources familiar with the investigation have said.

THE REUTERS, 21.01.06.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 1433