Ehud Olmert - Israel

PM Ehud Olmert questioned over corruption allegations

Friday 02 May 2008

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert faced questioning under caution on Friday as part of an inquiry into suspected corruption. Olmert is accused of dispensing favours in return for a discount on the 2004 purchase price of a Jerusalem home.

JERUSALEM, May 2 (Reuters) - Israeli police questioned Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert under caution on Friday as part of an
inquiry into suspected corruption.
 

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Olmert was being
questioned in his Jerusalem residence, but declined to provide
further details on the case or why the meeting had been held at
short notice.
 

Israel's attorney general on Thursday gave investigators
special permission to conduct Friday's questioning. A legal
source said that what was unusual about the session was that it
was ordered at such short notice.
 

The questioning comes as Olmert pursues a peace effort with
the Palestinians, talks the United States hopes will culminate
in a peace deal before January. Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice will arrive in the region on Saturday to help advance the
talks.
 

Olmert, who has been the subject of three corruption
investigations relating to his conduct before he became prime
minister in 2006, has denied any wrongdoing.
 

A statement issued by Olmert's office on Thursday said the
prime minister has freed an hour from his schedule for the
questioning and said he is planning to "fully cooperate with law
enforcement officials in the same manner he did in the past".
 

Olmert is under criminal investigation into accusations he
dispensed favours in return for a discount on the 2004 purchase
price of a Jerusalem home. Olmert has described the allegations
as "needless".
 

He is also being investigated over allegations that as trade
minister in 2003, he appointed allies to a state business
authority. He has said the suspicions are baseless.
 

Last November police concluded there was insufficient
evidence to take action against him over his role in the sale of
state-owned Bank Leumi when serving as finance minister.
 

Earlier this year, a government-appointed commission said
political and army leaders had committed "serious failings"
during a war against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon in 2006.
The panel did not blame Olmert personally and endorsed key
decisions he made.