WORLD> Middle East
Police recommend indictment against premier Olmert
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-09-08 09:10

The Two Cases

Olmer is currently being investigated in a total of six cases of alleged corruption. However, police finally recommended to indict Olmert over two cases.

One case focuses on Morris Talansky, a 76-year-old American Jewish businessman who was testified of giving Olmert 150,000 US dollars in cash over a 10-year period to help him in four election campaigns, including two Jerusalem mayoralty campaigns and two primaries of the Likud party.

In addition, Talansky allegedly gave Olmert tens of thousands of dollars contributed by American Jews who attended campaign dinners, in part financing Olmert a luxurious lifestyle of expensive hotels and upgrading his flight tickets.

During a pre-trial testimony on May 27, Talansky was also questioned about the possibility that he had given Olmert more than 200,000 dollars to cover debts from Olmert's 1998 Jerusalem mayoralty campaign.

The police statement said the investigation "found that Talansky transferred to Olmert, over the years from 1997 and on, large sums of money in different ways, in cash and illegally," adding that Olmert promoted Talansky's businesses in return.

The second case, the Rishon Tours affair double billing affair, concerns charges that the premier is suspected of having sent bills to more than one non-profit organization for trips abroad to Jewish institutions to raise money.

When he spoke on behalf of two or three different non-profit organizations on the same trip, he would charge each of them the full flight fare.

According to the allegations, the extra money went into a special account managed by Rishon Tours, his travel agency, and was used to pay for private trips made by Olmert and his family. Police estimated that he had collected some 110,000 dollars by this means.

According to the police statement, among the organizations "swindled" in the double-billing were the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Authority and the Soldiers Welfare Fund.

In the Investment Center affair, Olmert, while serving as the industry, trade and labor minister, allegedly granted large state investment funds to a company which his close associate and former law partner Uri Messer had been hired to represent.

The police are expected to reach a decision regarding the Investment Center affair in the near future.