24 sept 2012
Israeli ex-PM Olmert spared jail in corruption case
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- An Israeli court spared former prime minister Ehud Olmert a prison term over a conviction for breach of trust on Monday, potentially paving his way to a political comeback.
Dogged by corruption scandals as he tried to forge a peace deal with the Palestinians, Olmert resigned in 2008. Though found guilty in July of cronyism while in a former cabinet post, he was acquitted of more serious bribery charges.
Jerusalem District Court handed Olmert a suspended one-year jail sentence and a 75,300-shekel ($19,225) fine. Had he been put behind bars, the 66-year-old centrist politician might have been prevented from returning to public office.
"I leave court today walking tall," Olmert told reporters, without elaborating on his plans.
After his conviction, Olmert, who denied all wrongdoing, said he had no intention of reentering politics. The party he once led, Kadima, now heads the opposition to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rightist Likud.
A comeback would likely depend on the outcome of a separate bribery case over Olmert's role, as Jerusalem mayor from 1993 to 2003, in a controversial housing project.
"This is not over," deputy Israeli state prosecutor Eli Abravanel said after Monday's sentencing.
Israeli ex-PM Olmert spared jail in corruption case
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- An Israeli court spared former prime minister Ehud Olmert a prison term over a conviction for breach of trust on Monday, potentially paving his way to a political comeback.
Dogged by corruption scandals as he tried to forge a peace deal with the Palestinians, Olmert resigned in 2008. Though found guilty in July of cronyism while in a former cabinet post, he was acquitted of more serious bribery charges.
Jerusalem District Court handed Olmert a suspended one-year jail sentence and a 75,300-shekel ($19,225) fine. Had he been put behind bars, the 66-year-old centrist politician might have been prevented from returning to public office.
"I leave court today walking tall," Olmert told reporters, without elaborating on his plans.
After his conviction, Olmert, who denied all wrongdoing, said he had no intention of reentering politics. The party he once led, Kadima, now heads the opposition to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rightist Likud.
A comeback would likely depend on the outcome of a separate bribery case over Olmert's role, as Jerusalem mayor from 1993 to 2003, in a controversial housing project.
"This is not over," deputy Israeli state prosecutor Eli Abravanel said after Monday's sentencing.
- 2 nov 2010
Olmert: Terror's origin is Islam
Olmert: Accusing everybody
Olmert says foreign governments should get out of political comfort zone for effective war on terror; former PM also slams Netanyahu's foreign policy moves.
Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert criticized PM Benjamin Netanyahu's foreign policy as well as Western nations, for their inability to fight terrorism effectively, and offered his solutions to this failure.
Olmert addressed the Israeli government's role in the war on terror during a national security conference on Tuesday, organized by the Israeli Export and International Cooperation Institute.
"One of the problems in the war on terror is not the knowledge or technology, but the readiness of governments to invest in the war on terror for political reasons," he said. "I heard what the Shin Bet chief said about terrorists' use of technology. This technology also allows those combating terrorism to fight, and that encourages us to develop new tools."
'Get out of political comfort zone'
Olmert on Tuesday.
Olmert blamed Western nations for lack of cooperation against terrorism. "The origin of terrorism is within Islam," he said. "To fight terrorism, we need a judicial resolution that allows for the fight."
"Governments must get over the political convenience and adjust themselves to reality," he said. "Perhaps it would have been possible to prevent the attack on the Twin Towers if they would have looked into the places where it wasn't politically comfortable to look. Those terrorists were educated in the US. We must decide what we want."
The former PM also hinted that the responsibility for Israel's political standing lies upon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's shoulders.
"The Goldstone Report came out a year after (I left office)," he said. "If there was a policy of peace in Israel, we wouldn't have had the problems that occurred with Goldstone. I had an agreement with the UN that if the investigation takes place, it will not be published before Israel reads it. What happened later, I don%u2019t know. I wasn't prime minister."
Olmert also slammed Israel's current leadership over its testimony before the flotilla raid commission of inquiry.
"I recently heard that the political leadership is only responsible for approving the operation, and is not responsible for its technical details," he said. "I'm telling you: There never was a defense minister who was unfamiliar with the technical details of an operation before approving it. Whoever said otherwise was not telling the truth, to put it mildly."
'Dialogue will end terrorism'
Olmert suggested that improving the dialogue with the Palestinians will allow Israel to get a better grasp on terrorism.
"The reason that terrorism in the West Bank is almost nonexistent, compared to Gaza, where they are armed, is because of our presence there, but also because there is a political leadership that is committed to dialogue and the war on terror. It doesn't allow for terrorism. What happens in Judea and Samaria isproof that the Palestinians are building serious infrastructure and taking responsibility. It is a positive sign of a better political future."
He also said Israel must work on its relations with any nation willing to join it in the fight.
"We must maintain close ties with the nations that want to fight terrorism even though they disagree with us," he said. "At times you wouldn't believe the nations that are in touch with us. Sometimes this connection is passive, and sometimes it goes against politics, but they are in touch with us and the security forces."
"The reasons for terrorism are fantasies and hatred," he concluded. "I believe that quality of life has an effect on terrorism. When I was in charge, we made efforts to change the reality in the West Bank, and also win legitimacy when we fought terrorism."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3978780,00.html
5 nov 2010
Bush: Olmert asked me to bomb Syrian reactor
Dramatic revelations: Olmert asked Bush to bomb Syrian nuclear reactor, former president reveals in book; ex-PM did 'what he believed was necessary to protect Israel,' Bush writes, referring to reported Israeli strike on plant.
Former President George W. Bush says he considered ordering a US military strike against a suspected Syrian nuclear facility at Israel's request in 2007, but ultimately opted against it.
According to foreign reports, Israel was behind a bombing that eventually destroyed the facility, which Syria denied was aimed at developing a nuclear weapons capability.
In his memoir, "Decision Points," to hit bookstores on Tuesday, Bush says shortly after he received an intelligence report about a "suspicious, well-hidden facility in the eastern desert of Syria," he spoke by phone with then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Washington Post report on reactor
"George, I'm asking you to bomb the compound," Olmert told Bush, according to the book, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.
Bush says he discussed options with his national security team. A bombing mission was considered "but bombing a sovereign country with no warning or announced justification would create severe blowback," he writes.
A covert raid was discussed but it was considered too risky to slip a team in and out of Syria undetected.
Bush received an intelligence assessment from then-CIA Director Mike Hayden, who reported that analysts had high confidence the plant housed a nuclear reactor, but low confidence of a Syrian nuclear weapons program.
Bush says he told Olmert, "I cannot justify an attack on a sovereign nation unless my intelligence agencies stand up and say it's a weapons program."
'Your strategy very disturbing'
Olmert was disappointed at Bush's decision to recommend a strategy of using diplomacy backed up by the threat of force to deal with Syria over the facility.
"Your strategy is very disturbing to me," Olmert told Bush, according to the book.
Bush denies charges that arose at the time that he had given a "green light" for Israel to attack the installation.
"Prime Minister Olmert hadn't asked for a green light, and I hadn't given one. He had done what he believed was necessary to protect Israel," Bush writes.
Bush writes that Olmert's "execution of the strike" against the Syrian compound made up for the confidence he had lost in the Israelis during their 2006 war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, which Bush feels was bungled.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3980255,00.html
9 nov 2010
Case closed against Olmert pal Messer in Holyland affair
Some two months ago, the National Fraud Investigation Unit recommended closing the case against Messer for lack of evidence.
An investigation against Uri Messer, a close friend and one-time law partner of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, was closed yesterday after the prosecution said it had insufficient evidence to continue.
Messer was a suspect in the Holyland bribery investigation and prosecutor Uri Korb made the announcement during a hearing in Olmert's trial in the Jerusalem District Court yesterday.
Some two months ago, the National Fraud Investigation Unit recommended closing the case against Messer for lack of evidence. Korb told the court the decision was made after reviewing the investigation material, and in view of Korb's expected appearance as witness for the prosecution in another trial involving the former prime minister.
Korb said that Messer will testify not on the Holyland affair, in which Olmert and others are accused of taking bribes to push through a Jerusalem mega-development, but on the suspected conflict of interest involving him and Olmert in the so-called Investments Center affair.
The future of the cases of other suspects in the Holyland affair, including the former prime minister himself, his bureau chief Shula Zaken and a number of public figures and businessmen have yet to be decided by the prosecution.
Earlier this year police recommended indicting Olmert on bribery charges in the affair.
http://bit.ly/bcM5Ii
7 dec 2010
Israel embroiled in Maltese power-station scandal
Former PM Ehud Olmert accused of working on behalf of an Israeli firm and pressuring the Maltese government over a tender for a new power plant on the Mediterranean island.
Allegations of irregularities in a government tender, corrupt ministers, international political pressure and aggressive involvement by both an Israeli ambassador and former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert are just some of the elements in a scandal that is now rocking the Mediterranean island of Malta.
A week ago, on November 29, Malta's Minister of Infrastructure, Austin Gatt, testified before the Public Accounts Committee of the Maltese parliament. His testimony dealt with suspicions of irregularities in a government tender to build a new power plant on the island.
Two companies competed for the tender: BWSC of Denmark and an Israeli-Canadian firm, Bateman, owned by Beny Steinmetz.
Both applied for the tender more than a year ago, and following months of negotiations and the involvement of various lobbyists, the Danish firm won. But the choice was puzzling, since the Israeli firm's bid was 40 million euros lower.
A senior Israeli Foreign Ministry source said the suspicions of irregularities arose when Bateman accused the Danish firm of using inside information and of applying political and personal pressure on various officials in the Maltese government, including Gatt.
But in his testimony to the parliamentary committee investigating these suspicions, Gatt countered by hurling accusations at both Olmert and Gideon Meir, the Israeli ambassador to Italy, who is also accredited to Malta. Gatt claimed the two had worked on behalf of the Israeli firm by pressuring the Maltese government and even threatening the prime minister, Lawrence Gonzi.
Gatt told the parliamentary committee that Olmert had contacted Gonzi and asked to discuss the tender, but the Maltese prime minister refused to take his call, on the grounds that politicians do not intervene in tenders.
Haaretz has learned that he did in fact call the Maltese prime minister, and Gonzi did in fact refuse to accept the call. But Olmert stressed at the time that he was calling as a private citizen and not as the former prime minister - a detail Gatt omitted from his testimony.
Olmert's office refused to comment on the allegations yesterday, saying it does not discuss his business affairs. But a source who was involved in the issue back when the phone call in question was made said Olmert had sought to warn the Maltese prime minister of irregularities in the tender process by the Danish company.
Yariv Ovadia, spokesman of the Israeli Embassy in Rome, said "it would be best if those who need to explain the strange results of the tender focus on that issue and avoid involving Israel."
"The Israeli ambassador acted appropriately, in the context of his job, to promote economic relations between Israel and Malta, and the claims that he threatened the Maltese prime minister are baseless," Ovadia added.
Bateman said in a statement that it "completely rejects" Gatt's accusations. The company complied fully with the tender instructions, it said, and did not apply any illegal pressure whatsoever, political or otherwise, during the bidding process.
http://bit.ly/ibO1yo
10 febr 2011
'Holyland Jerusalem homes affair is Israel's worst corruption case'
State Prosecuter Moshe Lador in Jerusalem
State Prosecutor predicts that prime suspects in graft case, including former PM Olmert and former Jerusalem mayor Lupolianski, will know their fates by Passover.
No case in Israel's history "even approaches the scale and level of corruption" of the Holyland building project in Jerusalem, according to State Prosecutor Moshe Lador.
In a wide-ranging interview to be published Friday in Haaretz Magazine, Lador said: "There is a long list of events that add up to a total and systematic picture that truly turns the [Holyland] hill into a construction site that rises in terms of its gravity to high heaven, so to speak."
Lador predicted that by Passover the fates of the top suspects in the case will be decided. These include former prime minister Ehud Olmert, his aide Shula Zaken and former Jerusalem mayor Uri Lupolianski, as well as businessmen Danny Dankner, Hillel Charney and Avigdor Kelner.
The state prosecutor said the "true scale" of the Holyland project wasn't initially obvious to him. "You have to understand that the volume of construction that you see Thursday constitutes only 38 percent of the planned size of the monster."
In a separate matter, Lador addressed suspicions against Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. "This case has been going on for far too long, and the process is far slower than any of us would want," he said.
"Every examination of a criminal case is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. The puzzle is sometimes similar to the ones that my grandchildren amuse themselves with - those of eight pieces - but sometimes it consists of thousands of pieces. In the Lieberman case, it's far more than 2,000 pieces, most of which are not in Hebrew and not necessarily in English, either. Okay? Well, this is one of the hardest puzzles to put together that I have encountered in recent years."
Lador described the challenges of investigating the case against the foreign minister. "In this case, too, we are not exactly experiencing the joy of having people tell us, 'I very much respect the Israeli investigative authorities, I want to tell you the whole truth and you are looking at someone who has not been influenced by anyone,'" he said. "This is an investigation in which it's hard to find the pieces to the puzzle over the course of years.
And it's not the first time: In investigations that were conducted against Lieberman in 1998-1999, we also couldn't get to the bottom of certain events." Haaretz has learned that the state prosecutor's office submitted a recommendation a few months ago that Lieberman be indicted, but not on bribery charges.
Lador also addressed two senior appointments that recently fell through - that of Maj. Gen. Yoav Galant to Israel Defense Forces chief of staff and that of police Maj. Gen. Yohanan Danino to police commissioner.
"There is all the difference in the world between the Danino case and the Galant case," he said. "In regard to Danino, no one imagines that there is any personal benefit involved; at most, this is about a professional decision of one kind or another that Danino made when he was head of the Investigations Branch.
"Almost all the decisions Danino made were discussed with me, and to the best of my understanding, they were correct. I felt for Danino when I saw the carnival around him even before the facts had been clarified, as I feel for others who endure the same ordeal. The attorney general was absolutely right to allow the government to make the appointment. From our point of view, a delay was in no way justified."
With regard to the Turkel Committee, which approved Galant's appointment, Lador said he believed the committee did not have the tools to investigate and study the candidates."Regrettably, in our country the review apparatuses are not the most sophisticated," he said.
"The result is that a cabinet minister can be appointed instantly. Just two or three days passed from the moment the idea to appoint Prof. Daniel Friedmann minister of justice [in the government of Ehud Olmert] was conceived until the actual appointment, and he did not go through the [typical] process undergone by a candidate for meaningful office, such as in the case of the U.S. Senate [confirmation] hearings. It's possible to think about something similar that would be suitable here, a more sophisticated apparatus than exists now."
On the conviction of former president Moshe Katsav, Lador referred to the New Year's card the complainant known as A. sent to the president after the rape. "It's amazing to see how Katsav kept evidence that would serve him further down the road, should any of them, A. from the Tourism Ministry or any of the other women later, make allegations against him," he said.
Lador discussed a number of other highly-publicized affairs of the past year, among them, the case of journalist Anat Kamm, who, while serving in the bureau of the GOC Central Command, is alleged to have taken thousands of documents, some of them highly classified, and made them available to Haaretz journalist Uri Blau on computer disks. It was Lador who dictated the tough line in this case.
http://bit.ly/dLzzee
18 febr 2011
Olmert suing Lador, Haaretz for libel over magazine story
The libel accusation relates to Lador’s statement about a $75,000 loan Olmert received from businessman Joe Almaliah in the early 1990s.
Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert yesterday filed a NIS 150,000 libel suit against State Prosecutor Moshe Lador and Haaretz, over things Lador said in an interview published in last Friday’s Haaretz Magazine.
In addition to libeling him, Olmert charged, the state prosecutor violated his right to due process by making inappropriate comments that could influence the outcome of both a pending trial and a pending police investigation.
“Mr. Lador’s decision to be interviewed by Haaretz Magazine while legal proceedings in Mr. Olmert’s case were still pending was not made in good faith,” the suit charged. “Mr. Lador’s goal was to influence Mr. Olmert’s trial. In his statements in the interview, Mr. Lador intended to harm Mr. Olmert.”
The suit noted that Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein had recused himself from Olmert’s cases because he once served as Olmert’s lawyer, making Lador the de facto arbiter on all decisions made in the case.
“In a properly run prosecution, Mr. Lador would make do with running the criminal proceedings against Mr. Olmert and await the court’s verdict,” the suit said. “In a properly run prosecution, the state prosecutor would refrain from being interviewed at length in the media about a defendant while his trial was still in process, and while an investigation against the defendant on another matter was awaiting the state prosecutor’s decision ... In a properly run prosecution, the state prosecutor would have demonstrated an appropriate degree of distance and professionalism in dealing with the affairs of a defendant, any defendant, and allowed him to defend his innocence in court, instead of turning the legal process into an arena for media arm-wrestling. In a properly run prosecution, the state prosecutor would know how to admit his mistake and apologize for it.”
The suit accused Lador of crossing lines with regard to Olmert’s case.
“What was forbidden yesterday has become permissible,” the suit stated. “The inappropriate has become appropriate.
On the other hand, all professional, substantive criticism of the state prosecutor’s conduct is immediately portrayed by him as a war of ‘the sons of darkness against the sons of light.’ This is not how a properly run prosecution operates.”
Inappropriate interview
The suit claims the interview was especially inappropriate given Lador’s direct personal involvement in every stage of the proceedings against Olmert: He personally asked the court to approve a deposition by a key witness, American Jewish businessman Morris Talansky, even before an indictment was filed; he personally questioned Talansky in court. In addition, he personally signed the existing indictments against Olmert; and he is personally slated to decide whether to indict Olmert in another case, involving alleged bribery in the construction of the Holyland luxury apartment complex in Jerusalem, where Olmert served as mayor for 10 years.
It will now be very hard for Lador not to charge Olmert in the Holyland case, even if the evidence is shaky, because to close the case after having spoken so harshly would expose him to criticism, the suit said.
The libel accusation relates to Lador’s statement about a $75,000 loan Olmert received from businessman Joe Almaliah in the early 1990s. Lador termed this an “extraordinarily scandalous story” and claimed that “to this day, the loan hasn’t been repaid.”
After the interview was published, Olmert claimed the loan had been repaid in July 2010 and demanded an apology from both Lador and Haaretz. In response, the Justice Ministry noted that the loan had not been repaid at the time the indictment was filed, and Lador had not known that it was repaid subsequently.
However, the ministry added, the fact that it was finally repaid last July is marginal compared to the fact that Olmert, a public figure, had previously failed to repay such a large loan from a businessman for so many years.
The suit said the interview was particularly astounding coming in the wake of former President Moshe Katsav’s rape trial. In that case, the High Court of Justice was very critical of the prosecution’s high-profile media strategy, and Justice Edmond Levy even urged it to do some soul-searching.
“Mr. Lador didn’t do any ‘soul-searching’ about his media conduct, nor did he in the least internalize the Supreme Court’s clear instructions on this matter,” the suit charged.
The Justice Ministry yesterday termed the suit “frivolous” and said that its purpose was to “intimidate” the prosecutors dealing with Olmert’s case.
http://bit.ly/dOJo4S
23 mrt 2011
Attorney Uri Messer testifies holding over $300,000 cash for Olmert
Messer is considered a critical witness in the case in which Olmert stands accused of receiving hundreds of thousands of shekels in cash-filled envelopes from Jewish-American businessman Morris Talansky.
Attorney Uri Messer, a key prosecution witness in the state's cases against former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said on Tuesday that the largest amount of cash he ever kept for the former premier was more than $300,000.
Messer, who is considered a critical witness in the case in which Olmert stands accused of receiving hundreds of thousands of shekels in cash-filled envelopes from Jewish-American businessman Morris Talansky, began giving his court testimony on Tuesday.
At the start of his testimony Messer stressed that he did not have a close relationship with Olmert, despite common assumptions, and that Olmert never visited him at his home or joined him for familial celebrations. "We sometimes watched soccer matches together," he said.
Messer was later questioned with regards to a "secret fund" he allegedly managed for Olmert between 2003 and 2006, in which the cash payments from Talansky were deposited and said that the largest sum of cash he held for Olmert was "$300,000, maybe more."
When asked why Olmert did not keep the money in a bank account that gains interest Messer said "You don’t keep cash in the closet you keep it in a safe," adding that there was an understanding between them that the money would remain in cash.
According to the indictment issued against Olmert, Messer was responsible for overseeing the fund, the money for which he received from Olmert's longtime office manager, Shula Zaken. Messer testified that he usually received cash from Zaken, "it was cash, usually in dollars, in envelopes."
Messer will continue to testify over the next few weeks, and is also expected to testify against Olmert in what is known as the Investment Center affair, in which Olmert allegedly granted favors illegally to Messer, his former law firm partner.
http://bit.ly/eNIwJC 12 jul 2011, 13:40 , Respect -
Maria 16 juni 2011
Olmert: Talansky fantasizing
Morris Talansky
Former PM takes testifies on 'cash envelopes' scandal for first time. Denied ever receiving cash from American businessman.
Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert testified before the Jerusalem District Court Thursday in the ongoing case against him.
The testimony focused on both the "cash envelopes" and the "Rishon Tours" double billing affairs.
The former entails allegations suggesting Olmert received over $600,000 from American businessman Morris Talansky; and the latter entails fiscal improprieties regarding Olmert's trips abroad while in office.
This was the first time Olmert commented on the Talansky case in court.
Throughout his testimony, Olmert vehemently denied Talansky's statements about the money transfers: "He donated to my 1993 and 1998 campaigns by check and was given a receipt. Even when he made other personal donations, between campaigns, cash was never involved."
The former prime minister attempted to discredit Talansky's credibility, explaining
to the court that "a lot of what he says is nonsense. Fantasies... He can be a bit of a nag. He felt he was invaluable to me.
"Let me put this a mildly as I can: when a person is a mayor of Jerusalem, when he is deputy prime minister, naturally there are people who want to be around him," he told the court.
Olmert further stresses the Talansky never loaned him any money: "This story about loans is a fantasy I can't explain. It simply never happened."
He did however, concede the fact that Talanksy did reimburse him for expenses pertaining to trips to the US, "but only two or three times"; as well as to receiving $40,000 for legal expenses in 1996.
"It was a much appreciated contribution. There was a personal connection, as it sometimes happens between people. I was grateful to him. He's a people person."
As for the "Rishon Tours' affair, Olmert shrugged off the Prosecutions allegations suggesting he tried to implicate Rachel Raz-Risby – the travel coordinator at his office at the time of the alleged offences – saying he neither "defended her nor implicated her."
"Naturally, when some things were revealed to me during the investigation I was surprised. I have every confidence and faith in her and her integrity.
"It never occurred to me then – nor does it now – that Rachel ever meant to deceive anyone," Olmert told the court.
The former prime minister asserted his innocence again saying that "if anything happened, it wasn’t something I was involved in. I didn't know."
As for the various trips' finding, Olmert told the court that "in some cases… I preferred not ask for government funding. If I could save the government the money and there was a public body willing to pay. I preferred not to ask the government."
He further said that the overall traveling instruction common in the Prime Minister's Office during his term "did not include any order to create a surplus or a deficit. If there was someone who thought they could make it cover the travel expenses by a public body… I didn’t see anything wrong with that."
He stressed he would never have allowed Discrepancies in the billing, had he been made aware of their existence.
Olmert also described the personal anguish he suffered during the lengthy investigation: "That was the hardest time of my life. I can't even describe it. You find yourself in an emotional state… you try to push it aside so not to lose balance.
"I was deeply hurt. Both as a private citizen and as the prime minister."
http://fwd4.me/0uJC
--Prosecution: Launch investigation against Olmert
--Justice source: Olmert should suspend himself if investigated
--illegal political appointments
--The Bank Leumi case
--the Cremieux case
--Cremieux affair
--the "cash envelopes" investigation
--Olmert denies allegations
--name of the foreign national implicated in the case - Moshe Talansky
6 juli 2011
Olmert admits he 'may have given' cash to friend
The former prime minister's statement, made during the cross-examination phase of his trial in the Jerusalem District Court, contradicts what he told police during his investigation.
Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert admitted yesterday for the first time that he may have given money to close friend Uri Messer. His statement, made during the cross-examination phase of his trial in the Jerusalem District Court, contradicts what he told police during his investigation.
Olmert was indicted in August 2010 on charges of fraud, fraud under aggravated circumstances, falsifying corporate documents, tax evasion and breach of trust.
"Do you admit you transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash to Shula Zaken (his former bureau chief ) to be passed to Uri Messer, and some of which you gave him directly?" asked prosecutor Uri Korev.
"I may have given him a contribution," replied Olmert. "I may have passed it on to Messer.... I usually gave it to Messer through Shula."
In May 2008 Olmert was asked about financial ties to Messer while he was industry, trade and labor minister. Olmert repeatedly denied such ties, though at the time Messer allegedly kept a safe for Olmert containing hundreds of thousands of dollars, dubbed "the secret register" by the prosecution.
Korev pressed Olmert about the contradictions between what he told police and what he testified in court concerning financial ties with Messer.
"You are being asked only about a financial bond between you and Messer," Korev said. "An open, short, clear question, and you reply 'no connection.' Would you agree with me that these answers are incorrect?"
Olmert avoided a direct answer and went on at length about his mental state during the investigations.
http://fwd4.me/05rt
7 juli 2011
Prosecutor: Olmert attacks those who create problems for him
Olmerts fantasies
Tensions rise as Prosecutor Uri Korev pushes former PM to talk about Talansky. Olmert: He never gave me any personal gift, it's all fantasies.
The ongoing trial of Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert continued Thursday in the Jerusalem District Court, focusing on the "cash envelopes" affair involving American businessman Morris Talansky.
Olmert was asked by Prosecutor Uri Korev to testify about calling Talansky a "crook" during his police investigation. "I've already said that after a long while I discovered certain things about Mr. Talansky didn't add up. I've mentioned this a few times before," Olmert explained to the court.
The prosecutor remarked that allegedly Talansky has no interest in framing Olmert, because he himself has been interrogated under advisement for cooperating with the man who was in charge of transferring the donations.
Korev reminded Olmert that during one of his recorded conversations with investigators that "he had mentioned you like smoking $100 cigars and that you have many pens. He said that one who prefers materialistic ambitions will never be satisfied. When you love money, it's never enough. He goes on to claim you received money from him. 'He's a thief, he's a liar,' he says about you."
In response Olmert remarked: "A minute ago we heard the complete opposite statements about his unwillingness to hurt me. Suddenly he says I'm a liar and a thief. It is beneath me to address this entire story. Talansky never gave me a cigar, a pen, a tie or any personal gift. It's all fantasies that present his personality in a different light than the one I saw during the time he helped me."
The tension between the prosecutor and the former prime minister was clear when Korev told Olmert: "You attack anyone who creates a problem to you, anyone who gives out information that might incriminate you."
Mixed messages
Throughout the testimony Korev inquired why Olmert never answered the police's question of whether he had received cash from Talansky, but only addressed the issue in a general manner saying he has not been given ineligible money.
Olmert claimed he had thought the investigators were only talking about illegal money transactions he had allegedly received. "When it came to covering the expenses for events Talansky was interested in, he covered the expenses," answered Olmert.
The former prime minster also confessed that he may have given cash to attorney Uri Messer, money that derived from contributions. This testimony contradicts what Olmert told police earlier about never giving Messer cash.
Olmert attempted to explain this paradox, saying: "I told police that Shula (Olmert's bureau chief Shula Zaken) may have given Messer the cash, but the questions just tried to prove it's about illegal money transactions, using the term 'bribe.'"
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4092400,00.html...Read more 12 jul 2011, 14:07 , Respect -
Maria
http://fwd4.me/0fMV 6 jan 2012, 08:28 , Respect -
Maria 5 jan 2012
Report: Former Israeli PM Olmert indicted on bribe charge
TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma'an) -- Israel's State Prosecution on Thursday indicted former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and 17 others for giving or taking bribes in exchange for preferential terms for building projects, Israeli media reported.
Former Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski and former Israel Lands Administration director Yaakov Efrati will also face charges, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported.
The group are suspected of arranging tax breaks, building rights and other benefits worth tens of millions of shekels, including for the notorious Holyland luxury housing project in Jerusalem, the report said.
The former Kadima premier resigned in 2008 amid corruption allegations, prompting fresh elections that brought current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to power.
On Tuesday, Israeli media reported that Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman faces a court hearing this month to decide whether he will be indicted on fraud charges.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=450172
13 jan 2012
Rishon Tours owner indicted
Owner allegedly ordered staff to produce fake travel invoices for Olmert.
The Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office filed an indictment on Thursday against Emanuel Baumwolspiner, founder and owner of the Rishon Tours travel agency, charging him with falsifying travel invoices to double-bill nonprofit organizations for prime minister Ehud Olmert’s foreign trips.
Baumwolspiner is also charged with transferring funds from the accounts of other Rishon Tours customers, without their knowledge or consent, to cover a large deficit in the prime minister’s account.
Olmert is standing trial in the Jerusalem District Court on a string of corruption charges, all of which he denies, including that he allegedly double-billed nonprofit organizations for overseas flights, and used the extra money to pay for private trips for his family and himself via the Rishon Tours travel agency. That trial is now reaching its final stages.
Filed in the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court, the indictment covers the period from 2002 to 2006, and charges that Baumwolspiner knowingly ordered his employees to create false documentation regarding Olmert’s foreign trips, as requested by Olmert’s bureau.
That false documentation included invoices and receipts, including forged information for the various nonprofit bodies paying for the trips, and were issued at the request of Olmert’s office, the indictment charges.
The indictment alleges that Rishon Tours issued duplicate invoices for the same flights, and sent them to two or more nonprofit organizations to pay. The tour company also allegedly quoted fictitious air ticket prices that did not tally with the prices of the air ticket as charged by the airlines.
Sometimes, the indictment charges, Rishon Tours even cited travel itineraries that did not match the route that Olmert flew, to send out fictitious invoices.
Rishon Tours allegedly transferred the fictitious invoices and receipts to Olmert’s office, which is alleged to have used them to collect funding from various organizations for Olmert’s trips.
The indictment alleges that Olmert, his bureau chief Shula Zaken and foreign relations coordinator Rachel Rizby Raz presented the fake invoices to various bodies, including nonprofit organizations and the state, with requests to pay for Olmert’s travel expenses, allegedly concealing that other bodies were also covering the costs of the same trip.
The indictment lists several examples of the alleged falsification of travel expenses, including a trip Olmert took to Brussels and New York in April 2002. Olmert’s real route was Tel Aviv-Brussels- Frankfurt-New York-Tel Aviv, according to the indictment, but Rishon Tours allegedly issued travel receipts and invoices for a fake route, mainly via Rishon Tours employee Hadar Salzman- Shiponi.
The Friends of the Israel Defense Forces charity allegedly paid an invoice for a travel ticket from Tel Aviv- Brussels-Frankfurt-Tel Aviv, for $6,689, whereas the World Jewish Congress paid an invoice for a route from Brussels-Frankfurt-New York- Tel Aviv, for $2,804. The actual cost of Olmert’s flight ticket was allegedly $8,240, leaving a surplus of $1,253, which was added to Olmert’s Rishon Tours account, according to the indictment.
Allegedly, around $90,000 was accumulated using this method. This money, the indictment charges, was then used by Olmert, to pay for private trips for himself and his family, including flight upgrades to first class.
Baumwolspiner is alleged to have met every few months with Zaken, and later on also with Rizby Raz.
The indictment charges that at these meetings, which were held in Zaken’s office, Zaken, Baumwolspiner and Rizby Raz would examine the status of Olmert’s account at Rishon Tours.
Rizby Raz allegedly brought records she had prepared of Olmert’s travels including his real itineraries, payments collected from various organizations and details of private trips taken by the former prime minister and his family.
According to the indictment, the offset between the surplus monies from Olmert’s official trips and the debit balance of his private trips was allegedly initially covered up using debit balances in various private travel accounts.
In August 2004, Rishon Tours’ bookkeeping office allegedly opened an account card in the name of “Olmert Private” that was used to collect the excess public trip money and use it to cover private trips and upgrades.
The indictment charges that Olmert and his family flew abroad on dozens of private trips during 2002 to 2006, at a total cost of $100,000 – covered by surplus funds via Rishon Tours.
From the time Olmert became acting prime minister in January 2006, until he left office in March 2009, he refrained from going on trips abroad funded by private organizations, and the “Olmert Private” account at Rishon Tours had an outstanding balance of $11,000, all according to the indictment.
However, from then until October 2007, Olmert’s son Ariel allegedly traveled abroad several times and continued to charge the “Olmert Private” account, to the sum of $2,741.
In May 2007, Baumwolspiner is alleged to have met Olmert, who transferred five checks totaling NIS 12,460 to Rishon Tours, covering about a quarter of the outstanding balance, the indictment charges.
According to the indictment, the remainder of the outstanding sum was covered by Rishon Tours in December 2007, when Baumwolspiner is alleged to have ordered his staff to transfer monies from other customers’ accounts, without their knowledge or consent.
Baumwolspiner’s attorneys, Ruth Litvak and Motti Lazar, said on Thursday that Baumwolspiner was a “pawn of powerful individuals,” adding that they were convinced he would be acquitted of all charges.
“Mr. Baumwolspiner’s file has been lying in the state attorney’s office for more than three years. They chose not to make a decision on it even though indictments were filed against all the other individuals connected to this affair,” Litvak said. “Now, as Ehud Olmert’s trial is reaching an end, the state attorney’s office decides to bring [Baumwolspiner] to trial.”
In his own trial in the Jerusalem District Court, Olmert has denied doublebilling organizations for trips abroad. Under crossexamination in July, the former prime minister said he had thought the balance of his Rishon Tours account would have been covered by extensive air miles accumulated during numerous first-class flights overseas.
In testimony to the court in June, Olmert maintained that Zaken would inform him whenever he owed Rishon Tours money and that he believed he had paid for his private trips. He also stated that he believed his family was eligible to fly using air miles.
http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=253475 15 feb 2012, 11:00 , Respect -
Maria 15 febr 2012
Olmert trial draws to a close
Defense, Prosecution prepare to present closing arguments in former PM's fraud trial. Defense team: Talsnsky's testimony wholly flawed.
The Prosecution and the Defense are gearing for closing arguments in former Prime Minister Ehud Olmet's fraud trial, also known as the Talansky case.
The final stages of the court case, in which Olmert and Shula Zaken, his former bureau chief, both face charges of fraud, breach of trust and fraudulently obtaining benefits from American businessman Morris Talansky, began on Tuesday.
"Talansky stopped backing up Olmert for political reasons," Olmert's legal team said.
Attorney Navot Tel-Tzur argued that Talansky felt that Olmert was betraying him: "His willingness to raise money for Olmert was based on his ideological belief in him. He saw Olmert as a figure who could lead Israel on the right path," he told the Jerusalem District Court.
"The strongest piece of evidence proving that Olmert and Talansky cut all ties between them dates back to 2005, at which point the government promoted the disengagement plan lead by Olmert and Ariel Sharon. Furthermore, Olmert helped form Kadima, leaving the Likud. Talansky considered Olmert's actions to be a betrayal of his ideals of a greater Israel," Tel-Zur added.
Tel-Zur said that the three main arguments used against Olmert – Talansky's testimony, Uri Messer, a former confidant and business partner of Olmert's testimony and the illegal wiretapping held by Zaken are all lacking truth to them.
According to Olmert's legal team, "Talansky's streak of lies in the case raises questions. His testimony is full of holes, contradictions and conflicting evidence."
"Talansky's stay of exit order has given him reason to falsify the details in the case," Tel-Zur added.
http://fwd4.me/0uJA 15 jun 2012, 10:46 , Respect -
Maria 1 juli 2012
Olmert's verdict set for July 10
Jerusalem District Court to announce verdicts of Olmert, Zaken in Rishon Tours, Talansky affairs. Holyland trial opened Sunday.
The Jerusalem District Court has set July 10 for the verdict hearing in the trials of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his former bureau chief, Shula Zaken.
The court will announce the verdict in three corruption cases: the Rishon Tours affair, the Talansky case and the 'Investments Center' scandal.
The hearings in the trial were concluded several months ago. The former premier's attorneys claimed they have proved Olmert's innocence in the affair, presenting evidence for reasonable doubt.
The indictment includes charges of fraud, breach of trust, falsifying corporate records and tax evasion, as well as a charge of fraudulently obtaining benefits to which the State attributes aggravated circumstances.
The indictment spans three of the scandals the former prime minister was entangled in: The Talansky case, the Rishon Tours double billing case and the Investment Center case. The indictment does not include bribery charges, despite police recommendations in the matter.
Meanwhile, the testimony phase of the Holyland bribery affair trial against Ehud Olmert and several other defendants began at the Tel Aviv District Court on Thursday.
The indictment brought against former Jerusalem mayors Olmert and Uri Lupolianski, Olmert's former bureau chief, Shula Zaken, businessman Hilel Cherny and several other city and government officials was primarily based on the testimony of a state witness, whose identity is under a gag order.
http://fwd4.me/14XM 8 jul 2012, 08:05 , Respect -
Maria 7 juli 2012
Who was Yitzhak Shamir?
By Marsha B. Cohen
Classifying political leaders as either “hawks” or “doves” obscures an uncomfortable truth: that the real debate between political rivals is rarely whether to go to war but rather with whom.
Case in point: a man interred in Israel on Monday, former Prime Minister and terrorist/resistance fighter Yitzhak Shamir.
Writing in the Sheldon Adelson-owned free daily Israel Today, Israeli Vice Prime Minister Moshe (“Boogie”) Yaalon praised Shamir for his unswerving commitment to the “iron wall” concept of Israeli security, first laid out by Vladimir (Ze’ev) Jabotinsky: “He acted on his principles, not according to polls or trends.” That resoluteness is viewed from a very different angle in the Financial Times: “The kind of unflinching resolution behind Shamir’s campaign of bombings and assassinations, first as leader of the Stern Gang and later as a Mossad agent, often appeared to have defined his core character.”
One of the code names Shamir chose in the Stern Gang (a militant group also known as Lehi) was “Michael,” in tribute to Michael Collins of the Irish Republican Army, who Shamir esteemed as a role model in resisting British occupation. Shamir had no qualms about being labeled a terrorist. On the contrary. “First and foremost, terror is for us a part of the political war appropriate for the circumstances of today, and its task is a major one,” Shamir wrote in an article titled “Terror” in the Lehi journal Hazit in August 1943. “It demonstrates in the clearest language, heard throughout the world including by our unfortunate brethren outside the gates of this country, our war against the occupier.”
(at center) Yitzhak Yezernitzky (Shamir)
Shamir’s career as Foreign Minister (1979-1983) and his first term at helm of the Israeli government in (1983-84) encompassed the unfolding of the Iranian Revolution, the Iran-Iraq war, the US Embassy hostage crisis and the creation of Hezbollah in Lebanon in 1982 as a response to the Israeli invasion and occupation. The revelation of Israeli weapon sales to Iran that were exposed during the Iran-Contra hearings and the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989 occurred during his second term as Prime Minister (1986-92). Yet neither the accolades nor the accusations published in the days since his death mention any of these events.
Nonetheless, Iran was very much at the forefront and part of the backstory of Israeli foreign policy at the time. U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz cautioned President Reagan’s National Security adviser Robert McFarlane that “Israel’s agenda regarding Iran ‘is not the same as ours’ and that relying on Israeli intelligence concerning Iran ‘could seriously skew our own perception.’”
Elected to Israel’s parliament on the right-wing Herut party ticket in 1973, Shamir became Speaker of the Knesset in 1977 when Menachem Begin became Prime Minister, after elections toppled the governing Labor-led coalition that had ruled the country since 1948. Shamir was designated Israel’s Foreign Minister in 1979 when Moshe Dayan resigned from the post, eight months after the revolution that overthrew the Shah of Iran.
According to investigative journalist Robert Parry, whose coverage for the Associated Press of what became the Iran-Contra scandal won him a George Polk Award in 1984, Shamir confirmed in a 1993 interview that there was indeed a “Saturday Night Surprise”–as detailed by Gary Sick in a New York Times op ed and in his book by that title–that delayed the release of the 54 American hostages held at the US Embassy in Tehran for 444 days (Nov. 4, 1979-Jan. 21, 1981) because of a deal struck by the Iranian government with the Reagan presidential campaign. Furthermore, Shamir candidly hinted–before retreating–that the Israeli government had approached Republican operatives and offered to help engineer President Jimmy Carter’s defeat:
To prevent a Palestinian state and buy time for Israel to further “change the facts on the ground” by moving more Jewish settlers onto the West Bank, Begin felt Carter’s reelection had to be prevented. The Likud also believed that Reagan would give Israel a freer hand to deal with problems on its northern border with Lebanon. The Likud-Republican collaboration reportedly led to Israel becoming a go-between for the Reagan campaign’s secret contacts with Iran, helping to prevent Carter from resolving the U.S.-Iranian hostage crisis and dooming his reelection hopes.
(nb: Parry's use of the party name Likud is anachronistic here, since Begin and Shamir's Herut party did not become part of the Likud bloc until 1988. mbc)
Like the Revisionist’s mentor Jabotinsky, Shamir did not believe that Arab states would ever willingly accept a Jewish state in their midst. The Islamic Revolution in 1979 may have changed Iran’s ruling regime, but it did not alter Israel’s needed non-Arab allies in the region–especially Iran–according to Israel’s long held “doctrine of the periphery.” Foremost among the Arab leaders worrying Israel was Saddam Hussein of Iraq, who invaded Iran in Sept. 1980, launching a war that would last for eight years.
Notwithstanding Ayatollah Khomeini’s vitriol against “the Zionist entity,” Shamir never wavered in his conviction that it was Iraq, not Iran, that endangered Israel. As Trita Parsi points out in his book Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran and the U.S.:
From Tel Aviv’s perspective, Iraq was the single greatest threat to Israel’s security, while Iran–in spite of its ideology, its harsh rhetoric, and its vocal support of the Palestinian issue–was seen as a nonthreat. For all practical purposes, Iran continued to be a partner in balancing the Iraqi threat.
“Operation Opera,” Israel’s attack on Iraq’s Osirak nuclear facility on June 7, 1981, took place while Shamir was Foreign Minister. Shamir wrote a three page letter to world leaders justifying Israel’s preemptive strike before nuclear fuel had been loaded into it. Ari Ben Menashe, who claims to have spent two years as Shamir’s “roving troubleshooter” with the title of “special intelligence consultant,” told Parsi that representatives of the Khomeini regime met with Israeli officials about a month before the Osirak strike. The Iranians gave the Israelis details of an unsuccessful Iranian attack on the site on Sept. 30, 1980, according to Ben Menashe, as well as permission for Israeli planes to land at an Iranian airfield in Tabriz in an emergency.
Shamir was also Foreign Minister during the Israeli invasion that launched the “First Lebanon War” According to several sources, Shamir was neither particularly surprised nor troubled by the Phalangist massacre that took place in the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps outside Beirut. Author and journalist Ze’ev Schiff, co-author of Israel’s Lebanon War, attributed the catastrophic consequences of the Lebanon war not so much to the incursion itself but rather to Israel’s decision to remain in Lebanon as its occupier, recalling that in southern Lebanon at the outset of the war: “I was talking to an old man, a Shiite, who was very happy about what Israel had done. He grabbed my arm and said, ‘Don’t forget to leave.’ But we did. There is just no such thing as an enlightened occupation.”
The creation of Hezbollah as a Shiite paramilitary group to resist the Israeli occupation was one of the consequences of the Israeli decision not to leave. “Hezbollah’s original cadres were organized and trained by a 1,500-member contingent of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, who arrived in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley in the summer of 1982, with the permission of the Syrian government,” according to Adam Shatz . “For Iran, whose efforts to spread the Islamic revolution to the Arab world had been stymied by its war with Iraq, Hezbollah provided a means of gaining a foothold in Middle East politics.”
Shamir believed that Israel ought to prepare for the possibility that more moderate elements in the Iranian regime might gain control of the Islamic Republic once the aging and ailing Khomeini was gone from the scene. The late David Kimche, a retired founder deputy head of the Mossad who Shamir appointed as Director General of the Israeli Foreign Ministry in 1979, told Parsi in an interview:
There were the ultraextremists and there were, let’s say, the moderate extremists…They were all fanatics, but there were the ones who were absolutely dangerous, and there was another group…who would be willing to come to terms with the West…They were still against Israel, but there were much less extremist than that first group.
Kimche would emerge as a key figure in the Iran-Contra affair which exposed Israel’s sale of US weapons to Iran during the Iraq-Iran war (albeit with weapons that Israel would claim were outdated, defective and overpriced). The weapons sales, about which Shamir denied having any knowledge (he alternated serving as Prime Minister with now-President Shimon Peres in a power-sharing arrangement during the mid-late 1980s) were motivated in part by Israel’s hope that if Iraq and Iran were fighting one another, neither would attack Israel. But it was also based on the expectation that Khomeini would eventually be replaced by more pragmatic Iranian leadership.
Shamir was a tough-minded pragmatist who did not let the label “terrorist” inhibit him. He knew from personal experience that the line between a terrorist and a resistance fighter against occupation and terrorist was very much in the eye of the beholder.
In August 1987, when Iranian Parliament Speaker Hashemi Rafsanjani suggested in an NBC news interview that Western hostages held by extremist groups in Lebanon might be freed in a trade involving Shia Muslim prisoners held in Israel and Kuwait, the U.S. State Department immediately rejected the Iranian suggestion. “No deals,” State Department spokeswoman Phyllis Oakley responded. “The United States will not make concessions to terrorists nor will we ask others to do so. Making concessions only encourages additional acts of terrorism.” Shamir, however, was willing to consider the proposal. “I must study the statement of Mr. Rafsanjani,” Shamir said. “I don’t know what was his intention and about which Shia prisoners he is talking. So after we will see what is the issue, we’ll decide what could be, and if will be, any reaction from us.”
In 1992, Shamir was replaced as Prime Minister by the Labor Party’s Yitzhak Rabin. Despite his apotheosis after his assassination by a Jewish extremist and Israeli peace movement, Rabin was no dove. After the defeat of Saddam’s Iraq during the First Gulf War (during which Israel was attacked with Scud missiles), Rabin agreed to pursue the Oslo peace accords because he believed that resolution of the Palestinian issue would free him to take on Iran.
Since then, to be a “pro-peace leftist” in Israel has come to mean being pro-Palestinian and anti-Iran. As a self-described member of the “pro-Israel left” wrote recently:
Twenty years ago, Yitzhak Rabin, the prime minister who concluded peace agreements with an Arab country and the Palestinian people, linked countering the Iranian threat with resolving the Palestinian issue. Today, some of his ideological heirs and admirers outside of Israel fail to see the persisting connection between dovishness on Palestine with hawkishness on Iran. For Rabin, defending against threat from Iran meant diminishing the threat from Palestine. Today, advancing toward peace with the Palestinians means preparing for the potential of a horrific war of necessity with Iran.
To be a rightist is to be anti-Palestinian and anti-Iran. Praising Shamir at his funeral, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approvingly cited Shamir’s telling the U.S. during the Gulf War that if Washington did not act against Saddam Hussein, who was pointing Scud missiles at Israel, Israel would take matters into its own hands.
Barak Ravid of Haaretz hints that Netanyahu ought to use Shamir’s June 9, 1981 letter to world leaders justifying Israel’s preemptive strike on Osirak–with “some minor changes”–to justify an attack on Iran. Ironically, Yitzhak Shamir was the last of Israel’s political leaders–right or left–who was not obsessed with “the Iranian threat.” He was indeed the last of a political generation.
http://www.lobelog.com/who-was-yitzhak-shamir/ 10 jul 2012, 11:14 , Respect -
Maria 10 juli 2012
Israel's Olmert found guilty of fraud, acquitted on bribes charge
Ehud Olmert was found guilty on Tuesday of a corruption charge in the first criminal trial of a former Israeli prime minister, but acquitted on two other counts in what was widely seen as a significant victory for him.
Although Olmert was convicted of fraud and breach of trust, he was found not guilty on more serious charges that included allegations he received cash bribes from a US businessman and double-billed Israeli charities for overseas fund-raising trips.
It was not immediately clear when Olmert, 66, would be sentenced. He could face up to five years in jail.
The former prime minister is also battling, in a separate case, charges over the construction of a hulking luxury apartment complex that dominates a Jerusalem hilltop.
Olmert was accused of taking some $150,000 from the US businessman, pocketing more than $92,000 by double-billing the charities and helping to advance the business interests of a long-time friend.
He denied any wrongdoing. The court convicted him only in connection with aiding his friend while serving as minister of trade and industry before becoming prime minister in 2006.
Israel's Haaretz newspaper described the verdict on its website as a "crushing defeat" for the prosecution. The popular Ynet news site, called the outcome a "legal earthquake", confounding widespread expectations of a triple conviction.
The US businessman, Morris Talansky, testified that he gave Olmert envelopes containing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Olmert says the money was used for electioneering, denying he benefited personally in return for advancing the businessman's interests.
The court said prosecutors had failed to prove the payments were illegal.
Olmert resigned as prime minister in September 2008 after the accusations surfaced, saying he wanted to clear his name. But he stayed on as caretaker until March 2009 when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government was sworn in.
Olmert claimed he had achieved significant progress in talks with the Palestinians aimed at securing a final Middle East peace deal, offering an Israeli withdrawal from much of the occupied West Bank.
But no agreement was reached and negotiations held under Netanyahu collapsed in 2010 after he refused to renew a freeze on Israeli settlement building on land Palestinians want for a state.
serial rapist Moshe Katsav
Prosecutors said millions of dollars in bribes were paid to Olmert, Jerusalem's mayor from 1993 to 2003, and other civil servants to ensure the approval of plans for the Holyland towers. Olmert has denied this.
Israel has already witnessed a former head of state put behind bars.
Former president Moshe Katsav was convicted last year of raping an aide when he was a cabinet minister in the late 1990s and molesting or sexually harassing two other women who worked for him during his 2000-2007 term as president. He began serving a seven-year prison sentence in December.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=502970
State to ask for moral turpitude ruling in Olmert case
After court acquits former PM of corruption charges, Prosecution calls to apply moral turpitude to Olmert's offense, asks for six month sentence.
Former prime minister Ehud Olmert might have been exonerated of the majority of the corruption charges brought against him, however, the State Prosecutor's Office will most likely ask to apply moral turpitude to his offense, after he was found guilty of breach of trust in the Investment Center case.
In addition to applying moral turpitude to the offense, the prosecution will ask for a six month sentence which can be converted to community service.
Over the next few weeks, the prosecution will hold meetings on the matter and will determine whether or not the State will appeal Olmert's exoneration of the Talansky Affair and the Rishon Tours double billing scandal.
In their verdict in the Investment Center Case, the court criticized Olmert and found him at fault for gross conflict of interest in his dealings with Uri Messer. "The defendant was found at fault on this account on four different occasions," they said.
Launched in 2007, the investigation focused on suspicions that Olmert was involved in political appointments in Israel's Small and Medium Enterprise Authority (SMEA) during his tenure as industry, trade and labor minister. A subsequent inquiry revealed a much wider scope of offences, pointing to 260 appointments or fringe benefits Olmert was responsible for as part of his various public positions.
http://fwd4.me/184M 23 aug 2012, 14:04 , Respect -
Maria 12 juli 2012
'Olmert must be accused of moral turpitude'
Senior attorney at Central District State Prosecutor's Office estimates former PM's acquittal of main charges will cause prosecutors to reconsider charging senior state officials in coming days.
Senior State Prosecutor's Office official Attorney Anat Savidor-Goldenzweig leveled harsh accusations against the Jerusalem District Court following Ehud Olmert's acquittal of two major corruption charges.
Speaking at a Bar Association conference in Eilat, she said it was "unclear" how the trial ended with an acquittal and estimated that members of the prosecution will fear indicting senior state officials. Savidor-Goldenzweig also claimed that Olmert must be accused of moral turpitude in the Investment Center affair in which he was convicted of breach of trust.
"I want to be very cautious because I haven't read the full verdict. I find it hard to understand from the summary how $450,000 which are unaccounted for, and which were not reported to the state comptroller yielded an acquittal? I don't get it.
"There is no doubt that this case should have been brought before a court, and if it hadn't there would have been a major outcry. Lessons will definitely be drawn and this will result in no indictments against senior public servants in the coming days – out of fear."
Savidor-Goldenzweig continued, "The court ruled that Mr. Olmert received $450,000. And I ask you – who here has received $450,000? Who gets these kinds of sums without knowing? I come from a public figure's house. My father was the Knesset speaker (Menachem Savidor). He knew about every penny he got, about which account paid for his travels abroad and which account paid for every expense."
"What is it with people going abroad and not knowing what happens in their accounts?!," she wondered. "With all due respect…an indictment had to be filed. I didn't see any real criticism of the prosecution in the summary. On the contrary."
'Low point for prosecution'
A senior member of Olmert's defense team said in response, "I am sorry to report that this is the face of our State Prosecutor's Office – passes judgment based on headlines and false bits of information. The attorney's style more resembles that of a 12-year-old talkbacker than a level-headed legalist."
He added, "It’s amazing how in 30 minutes of reading several dozens of pages Savidor disqualifies four years of work by three experienced district judges. This is another low point in Moshe Lador's State Prosecutor's Office."
Ehud Olmert's communications director, Amir Dan, said: "It's a shame that members of the prosecution, whose job it is to criticize others and point a finger cannot internalize such criticism when it is directed at them, and instead of making the necessary changes would rather be on the offensive when the criticism comes from the court itself.
"Sadly the prosecution honors the court's decisions only when they match up with their position and each time the court rules against it, it acts as if it is above the court."
The indictments in the Rishon Tours, Talansky Case and Investment Center affairs were prepared by the Jerusalem District Prosecutor's Office. The Holyland case in which Olmert is one of the defendants is being handled by the Tel Aviv Prosecutor's Office. On Wednesday, the prosecution said they will not reexamine the case following Olmert's acquittal in the Rishon Tours and Talansky cases.
Deputy Attorney General Raz Nizri also addressed the Bar Association Conference and said that it should be examined whether there is room to draw lessons following the verdict. He rejected the calls for State Prosecutor Moshe Lador's resignation.
http://fwd4.me/184P 23 aug 2012, 14:09 , Respect -
Maria 23 aug 2012
State to ask for moral turpitude ruling in Olmert case
After court acquits former PM of corruption charges, Prosecution calls to apply moral turpitude to Olmert's offense, asks for six month sentence.
Former prime minister Ehud Olmert might have been exonerated of the majority of the corruption charges brought against him, however, the State Prosecutor's Office will most likely ask to apply moral turpitude to his offense, after he was found guilty of breach of trust in the Investment Center case.
In addition to applying moral turpitude to the offense, the prosecution will ask for a six month sentence which can be converted to community service.
Over the next few weeks, the prosecution will hold meetings on the matter and will determine whether or not the State will appeal Olmert's exoneration of the Talansky Affair and the Rishon Tours double billing scandal.
In their verdict in the Investment Center Case, the court criticized Olmert and found him at fault for gross conflict of interest in his dealings with Uri Messer. "The defendant was found at fault on this account on four different occasions," they said.
Launched in 2007, the investigation focused on suspicions that Olmert was involved in political appointments in Israel's Small and Medium Enterprise Authority (SMEA) during his tenure as industry, trade and labor minister. A subsequent inquiry revealed a much wider scope of offences, pointing to 260 appointments or fringe benefits Olmert was responsible for as part of his various public positions.
http://fwd4.me/184M 28 aug 2012, 12:19 , Respect -
Maria