(IsraelNN.com) Officers of the National Police Department's Fraud Investigations Unit questioned Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for nearly five hours Tuesday morning in relation to corruption charges in the "Bank Leumi Affair." Olmert is
It is one of several fraud and bribery investigations... involving the Prime Minister.
suspected of interfering with the bank's privatization on behalf of wealthy allies from overseas. It is one of several criminal investigations or suspicions involving the Prime Minister.

Tuesday's probe, carried out "under caution," was held in the official Jerusalem residence of the Prime Minister. Questioning will continue on Thursday. An interrogation "under caution" indicates that the interviewee may face criminal charges.

According to suspicions, then-Finance Minister Olmert allegedly intervened on behalf of two of his friends who were interested in buying control of Bank Leumi, which was undergoing privatization in 2005. The men involved eventually dropped out of the bidding and are not suspected of any wrongdoing.

When the tender for privatization of Bank Leumi was published in November, 2005, Olmert ordered changes which he explained would encourage more investors. But, police suspect that Olmert was using his influence to help his friends.

Suspicions pointing to Olmert's part in the Bank Leumi Affair were first raised in testimony given by the Finance Ministry's Accountant General, Dr. Yaron Zelicha. As a result of Zelicha's statements, State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss initiated his own investigation into the bank's privatization process. The material collected was handed to the State Prosecutor's Office, which, on January 17, 2007, ordered police to begin a criminal investigation of Ehud Olmert.

Zelicha Speaks
While Olmert was being questioned, Zelicha was appearing on the first hour of government-run Israel Radio's afternoon news magazine.  "I was brought up not to merely swim with the tide or look the other way," Zelicha said.  "I refused to have it be written in history that Bank Leumi was stolen under my watch... I and my people were able to stop the sale of Bank Leumi to Olmert's friends at a loss to the State of hundreds of millions of dollars."

Asked why he did not turn to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz with his suspicions, but rather to the State Comptroller, Zelicha said, "I didn't turn to Mazuz because I feared that he was a weak man, and that this was why he was appointed in the first place." 

Zelicha further said that the Attorney General's sister Yemima Mazuz, the top legal counsel of the Finance Ministry, was "involved from the very beginning in this story.  If she had not been weak, and if she had not closed her eyes from the beginning, it is very doubtful that Olmert would have gotten as far as he did in his bid."  He accused Olmert and then-Finance Minister Avraham Hirschson, who resigned in May over suspicions of embezzlement, of having offered the post of Chairman of the Directorate of Israel Railways to Yemima Mazuz after she testified regarding the sale of Bank Leumi. 

"I don't claim that everyone around me is corrupt," Zelicha said.  "Far from it; this is just a baseless spin against me."

The Probe
Three senior police investigators are to lead the questioning of the Prime Minister: the commander of the Fraud Unit, Brig.-Gen. Shlomi Ayalon; the Financial Crimes Division head, Chief Superintendent Eran Kamin; and Superintendent Anat Glutman.

Last month, Attorney General Mazuz instructed police to launch an additional criminal investigation against Olmert, who was Mayor of Jerusalem until 2002, regarding his purchase of a private home on Cremieux St. in Jerusalem in October 2004. Olmert is suspected of receiving a hefty discount on the apartment from the contractor, Alumot, in return for acting to speed up the approval of construction permits for the project. 

Mazuz is also expected to soon announce his decisions regarding two other matters in which Olmert is suspected of corruption. These are known as the "Small Business Bureau Affair" and the "Investment Center Affair." Both involve illegal exertion of influence to assist friends and political allies.