Police conducted searches of the phones of key figures in the Likud campaign without the appropriate warrants in the case concerning the harassment of then-state witness Shlomo Filber, Kan News reported on Sunday evening.

The searches of the phones of Likud campaign figures, including Topaz Luk and Erez Tadmor, were carried out six and a half years ago. The matter came to light after it emerged during the investigation that the police had also conducted searches without warrants of the phones of the Prime Minister’s advisers: Ofer Golan, Yonatan Urich, Yisrael Einhorn, and others.

The troubling findings show that, in addition to Topaz Luk and Erez Tadmor, searches were conducted without a warrant—or in excess of what the warrant permitted—on the phones of three additional employees in the Likud campaign. In addition, a search was conducted without a warrant of the mobile phone and vehicle of the owner of the car that had been parked outside Filber’s home.

According to the report, the serious failings now being uncovered pose further difficulties for the prosecution in the case that has already encountered significant problems due to the conduct of the investigative unit.

The next hearing in the case is set to take place in a month and a half.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)