Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has been implicated in a new corruption scandal. A report put out Monday by State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss accuses Olmert of using his political pull to get an irregular loan approved.
Olmert pressured then Treasury Accountant-General Yaron Zehalka to approve a loan for the Jerusalem Engineering College, Lindenstrauss found. The alleged incident took place while Olmert served as Finance Minister.
Olmert is an acquaintance of the president of the college, Uzi Wexler, and once chaired its board.
The case was kept quiet until now as police investigated the allegations.
Olmert faces investigations in several other cases as well, among them the “cash envelopes” affair in which he allegedly took large amounts of cash gained through illegal fundraising, the Carmel House affair in which he is suspected of gaining an illegal benefit by purchasing a house at a highly reduced rate, and the Rishon Tours affair, in which he is suspected of double billing for trips and using the extra money to buy vacations for his family.