Israel’s Olmert To Be Indicted
Israel’s Attorney General, Menachem Mazuz, announced Wednesday that he was preparing to charge Prime Minister Ehud Olmert with crimes including fraud and breach of trust over accusations of double-billing for plane tickets. The Prime Minister will be granted a judicial hearing before Mazuz makes a decision about an indictment.
Olmert is accused of fraudulently billing multiple entities, including charities and the state, for the same flights, when he traveled abroad from 2002 to 2006. He is suspected of having used the money for personal and family trips and for upgrades. According to the Justice Ministry, his travel agency sent fictitious invoices, sometimes to multiple parties for the same trips and charging more than the price of the flight, and then stashed about $85,000 dollars in a private account for him.
Olmert’s lawyers call the announcement “puzzling and even unreasonable”, as they were never brought up in any interrogation.
Olmert’s time as prime minister has been dogged by repeated corruption investigations, but he has denied any wrongdoing and has never been charged. He was also accused of taking bribes from a Long Island businessman, Morris Talansky. It was during this investigation that the current double-billing was found.
Jamie Hughes
