The Federal Bureau of Investigation used computer techniques that either changed or corrupted surveillance files involving thousands of telephone calls, fax messages, and computer data gathered in a terrorism prosecution here, a defense attorney in the case charged this week.
Attorney Michael E. Tigar has also asked for a formal hearing on whether any of the evidence affected by the mishandling should be declared inadmissible in court, according to the New York Times.
Tigar also claimed the government has acknowledged it can't retrieve audio files of an estimated 480 intercepted calls, saying it raises "questions about the entire system of record-keeping of all files, not just audio files," the Times continued, adding the government had previously acknowledged the FBI had difficulties retrieving the files.
Tigar represents another attorney, Lynne F. Stewart, whom the government accused of supporting terrorism in charges thrown out by a federal judge in July. Stewart and two co-defendants still face a trial on other charges in the case, brought over her representation of two men tied to Shiek Omar Abdul Rahman, the blind cleric who masterminded the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993.
The government claims to have intercepted over 85,000 calls since the mid-1990s involving the long-term Stewart case, the Times said. Tigar filed a complaint to federal judge John G. Koetl, cited by the Times, saying the government "conceded that a great deal of electronic evidence is missing," saying if a private litigant "came to court with such a sorry record of file destruction, that litigant would justly fear sanctions that might include prosecution for obstruction of justice."
