The prosecution announced on Monday that a pre-indictment hearing scheduled for Tuesday has been cancelled in corruption cases allegedly involving former manager Shula Zaken of the Prime Minister's Office. The cancellation was announced after Zaken's representatives announced they would not attend the hearing in the office of Jerusalem District Attorney Eli Abarbanel. The second such announcement by Zaken's attorneys was taken by the prosecution as a waiver of her right to those hearings.
As a result indictments on a series of charges are expected for Zaken's role in the Rishon Tours and Talansky cases. The Talansky case is also known as the "cash envelopes" case because American businessman Morris Talansky has testified that he brought hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash to Ehud Olmert before he was prime minister. Zaken is accused of handling some of that money. In the Rishon Tours case, Olmert is accused of double billing for trips so as to allow family members to accompany him.