Britannia Radio

From Times Online

November 26, 2008

Olmert 'to be charged' with corruption

(Kevin Frayer/Reuters)

Ehud Olmert will be Israeli prime minister until February

Sheera Frenkel in Jerusalem

Israel’s Attorney General announced today that he was planning to bring criminal charges against Ehud Olmert, the outgoing Prime Minister, for fraud, abuse of confidence and falsification of documents.

Menachem Mazuz, the Attorney General who investigated the Prime Minister on several corruption cases, said that Mr Olmert could be indicted over allegations that he submitted duplicate billing of travel expenses. The case was one of several scandals that forced Mr Olmert to submit his resignation.

No date has yet been set to formally charge the Prime Minister, said the Justice Ministry. Mr Olmert will first be offered a hearing to defend himself, after which the Attorney General will make his final decision on the indictment.

Mr Olmert is suspected of double and occasionally triple-billing organisations for private flights taken during his term as Mayor of Jerusalem and Industry and Trade Minister from 2003-2006. Police believe that while Mr Olmert received state funding for work trips, his flight co-ordinator, Rachel Risby-Raz, and former bureau chief Shula Zaken asked one or more other public bodies to finance the same flights. Each organisation believed it was supporting Mr Olmert’s working trips abroad, and was not aware that other parties were also footing portions of the bill.

RELATED LINKS

• Ehud Olmert confirms resignation to Cabinet

• Peace process turmoil as Olmert announces exit

• Iran 'has enough uranium to build a bomb'

Mr Olmert tendered his resignation in September to fight the graft allegations against him. He remains at the head of a caretaker administration, but an indictment against him could increase pressure to leave office before the February 10 election.

Though Mr Olmert has maintained his innocence on all the charges, public opinion has turned against him as police questioned him on 10 separate occasions in recent months. Mr Olmert is also suspected of steering tens of millions of pounds’ worth of state funds towards a company owned by his former law partner, Uri Messer, and unlawfully accepted cash-stuffed envelopes from a US businessman.

Mr Olmert has consistently maintained his innocence of all of the accusations against him. There are fears that an indictment against Mr Olmert could also affect his party’s showing in the upcoming elections. Recent polls show the Kadima Party, now led by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, slipping behind Binyamin Netanyahu, head of the right-wing Likud Party.

Polls published earlier this week showed Likud would gain 34 seats in the 120-seat parliament, up from its current 12, followed by Kadima with 28. Kadima currently has 29 seats. The poll forecast the once-dominant Labour, headed by Defence Minister Ehud Barak, winning just 10 seats.

In internal party elections, Tzipi Livni was elected head of the party. Ms Livni was unable, however, to form a coalition, triggering early elections for February 10.

The announcement came after Mr Olmert wrapped up a visit to Washington where he held out hope for a last-minute peace deal with the Palestinians. The Prime Minister returned from White House talks with President Bush just hours before the justice ministry announcement.