Condit passes private lie detector test

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, JULY 14. In a development that has added another dimension to the case of the missing Ms Chandra Levy, the 24-year-old intern at the Bureau of Prisons, the lawyer for the Democratic Congressman, Mr Gary Condit, has said that his client has taken a lie detector test and passed it.

The attorney, Mr. Abbe Lowell, at a news conference on Friday evening, announced that Mr. Condit was examined by a retired 35- year veteran of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and had come out of the polygraph test successful. However, neither the authorities nor the family of Ms Levy seem to be impressed by the outcome.

The District Police are not only questioning the results but are also disturbed that Mr. Lowell had taken an independent course of action even while negotiations with the authorities on the test were going on. The local police have been wanted the FBI to carry out the polygraph test on Mr. Condit.

Mr. Lowell - one of the main lawyers for Mr. Bill Clinton at the time of the Impeachment Trial in Congress - has strenuously made the point that there is too much media attention on Mr. Condit and his past life when the focus ought to be elsewhere. In his view, Mr. Condit had allowed an extensive search of his apartment, given a DNA sample and now taken the polygraph test.

The District Police, in remaining unimpressed and perhaps even miffed by the expected turn of events, are saying that while they will examine the results, they will not be certifying them as credible. A senior police official has called Mr. Condit's private lie detector test as ``self-serving''. And what has not come out clearly is if the Congressman had undergone ``practice tests'' prior to engaging his own man to administer the test.

As the investigation of Ms Levy's disappearance expands in scope covering not only the possible criminal element but also legal questions of Mr. Condit suborning perjury, the District Police have started distributing at least four sets of images of Ms Levy. The computer stimulated pictures are to give an idea of how Ms Levy could look like if she had changed her hairstyle.

The search in abandoned homes continues in the district as authorities, accompanied by cadaver sniffing dogs, combed at least 80 residential units in and around where Ms Levy was staying. So far, the police have talked to about 100 persons or more and have started re-interviewing some people. The authorities have made it clear from the very beginning that Mr. Condit is not a suspect in the disappearance of Ms Levy.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : International
Previous : Decommissioning remains the touchstone
Next     : 'Rights still on agenda with China'