Israel's phone-tapping scandal widened today amid reports that private investigators illegally tapped phones of more than 20 journalists and possible witnesses in an investigation of a Cabinet official. Interior Minister Aryeh Deri is being questioned on suspicion of illegally funneling public funds to religious institutions that he controls. He is a member of the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party. Israel army radio said today that police would complete their investigation in about two weeks and were expected to recommend charges against Deri. The report did not name the possible charges. If Deri stands trial, it could rattle the government of Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir. A coalition, led by Shamir's right-wing Likud bloc, has a 62-seat majority in the 120-seat Parliament and needs the five seats of Shas to govern. Police believe three private investigating firms tapped phone lines in municipal officials in Jerusalem and newspaper offices in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, according to today's media reports. But a Tel Aviv police official denied the stories, saying they were ``nonsense.'' She spoke on condition of anonymity. The bugging scandal surfaced last week with reports that five people had been arrested on suspicion of tapping the phone of Mordechai Gilat, an investigative reporter for the Yediot Ahronot newspaper. Gilat had written a series of exposes on Deri in June. A tape allegedly containing a recording of a conversation between Gilat and Police Commissioner Yaacov Turner was discovered earlier this week. Reports said Turner's phone may have been bugged as well. Deri, meanwhile, suggested the left-of-center Labor Party was responsible for the investigation. He indicated it could have started as an attempt to prevent the formation of Shamir's coalition on June 11. ``Somebody decided to torpedo the formation of a right-wing government,'' Deri told the weekly newspaper Kol Hair. ``Only six days before the formation of the new right-wing government did police start to investigate accusations against me. Only one day before the new government was presented, investigators confiscated material from the Interior Ministry,'' Deri said. Shas was responsible for toppling the previous Likud-Labor coalition on March 15. During the subsequent wrangling for power, both Labor and Likud tried to lure Shas onto their sides.
