Lawyers for embattled Prime Minister Ehud Olmert asked the High Court Monday afternoon to overturn a lower court decision that would allow American businessman Morris Talansky to be grilled by police in preliminary testimony over huge cash donations he made to the Prime Minister the past decade. The attorneys argued that early testimony by Talansky before his return to the United States next week would strip the Prime Minister of "all his rights as a regular citizen, and as one who is being interrogated" because they would not have enough to cross-examine him.
Prosecuting attorneys countered that the defense team would have had plenty of time to cross-examine Talansky if they had not delayed the proceedings to receive material on the case.