Minister Rafi Eitan (Pensioners) accused State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss yesterday of undermining the institution of the state comptroller, charging that no previous comptroller has ever acted as Lindenstrauss has recently.

"I never imagined that we would reach a day in which the institution of the state comptroller would find itself in as difficult and embarrassing a situation as it does today," Eitan said in a letter to the comptroller.

Referring to two of Lindenstrauss's predecessors in the job, Eitan wrote: "I can't imagine that Siegfried Moses, the first state comptroller, would have acted as rudely as you did toward the prime minister ... I don't believe that Yaakov Maltz would have informed the attorney general that he does not accept his legal authority and asked to submit an independent view to the High Court of Justice."

"Your behavior is diverting public attention to what is marginal rather than what is important," he continued. "You are intimidating the prime minister, [other] ministers and civil servants and paralyzing the government's work."

"The time has come to tell you: You are going overboard," the letter concluded.