Olmert Faces Israeli Fraud Investigators

Ehud Olmert, former mayor and prime minister of Israel, faced Israeli fraud investigators when he was questioned by Israel police this morning at the national fraud headquarters. Olmert, already on trial for the Holyland corruption scandal, now faced questioning as Israel fraud investigators believe he is guilty of taking bribes while he was the mayor of Jerusalem between 1993 and 2003.

Olmert denies all charges against him. Allegations include accepting bribes totalling over NIS 1 million from luxury real estate developers to promote construction projects, particularly the Holyland apartment complex in Jerusalem. The high rise apartment development continues to be under construction and has been since its final construction approval in 1999. These bribes were suspected of being accepted by Olmert when he was mayor to Jerusalem and minister of industry and trade.

These allegations are a result of documents that show large bribes were being paid to aid the project in its developments and allowed for developers to benefit from reduced administrative fees as well reduced taxes, according to Israeli press reports. Groups of people have been questioned by police including two of Olmert’s associates, including his successor Uri Lupoliansky who was arrested by police last month. At the same time, six others were arrested and have been tied to what has been reported as the largest corruption scandal in Israeli modern history. Lupoliansky faces no charges as of yet.

Olmert has been reported denying charges as well as claiming he is a victim of character assassination. According to Amir Dan, Olmert’s spokesman, "Olmert has stressed more than once that he was never offered a bribe and never accepted a bribe, not directly and not indirectly" he said in a statement.

Aside from the large bribes accepted and offered by Olmert to construction developers, he also faces charges due to suspicion of receiving tens of thousands of dollars from a US ally and double-billing organizations for foreign travel expenses, Reuters reported.

Haaretzreceived a document that was sent by prosecutors to Olmert’s attorney before a hearing that intended on indicting Olmert for improper political appointments. The document contains lists of charges centering on Olmert’s former affiliation with the Likud committee while he was in office with names of those he has offered employment of influential political positions. The document written by Avia Alef, the prosecution’s head of the economic department, describes how Olmert would collect employment requests and address them to the relevant officials before appointing close associates of his, then notifying Likud activists of their employment. The document contains other instances when Olmert has aided in the employment of political officials within the Likud committee during his time of office.

In a separate case, Israeli police have also recommended that Avigdor Lieberman, foreign minister of Israel, should be questioned under corruption suspicions after allegedly trying to disrupt investigation into his business yesterday. Police believe that Lieberman received notification of police investigation by an Israeli ambassador in 2008. The investigation involved questioning of authorities in Belarus with the intention of uncovering a money laundering scheme against Lieberman. He has not been charged yet.