The government is funding part of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s private business expenses, the business journal The Marker reported Monday morning. Business in his plush office in a Tel Aviv high-rise is booming despite his announced flight to New York next week for an “urgent” cancer operation.
However, Globes reported Sunday that Olmert soon will travel to Africa to operate his new private consulting firm and work with billionaire diamond magnate Benny Steinmetz, who also is involved in other investments in Africa and Russia.
Olmert's office responded to the report by stating that he “is a private man and does not have to answer,” while Steinmetz’s office denied the story. However, their friendship dates back several years. Previous reports have stated that Steinmetz extended a job offer to Olmert in 2005.
In 2002, Olmert’s son Shaul worked for one of Steinmetz's sons in the United States. Haaretz also has reported in the past that Olmert wrote at least once to the Russian foreign minister with a warm recommendation for Steinmetz.
Olmert's office, like those of predecessors, is allowed to receive half of its expenses from the government for five years in order for a former prime minister to maintain contact with the public. However, Olmert also is using the same office for his private business interests without any separate areas for public and private business.
Olmert’s aides said that all of his operations are carried out in accordance with advice from his legal advisors.
His new business firm, Ehud Olmert Consultants, offers to “open doors” for investors throughout the world, but Africa and Russia are the first objectives, sources told Globes.
He established the firm only one week after Binyamin Netanyahu formed his new government, but he stated his address as Balfour Street, the location of the official Prime Minister’s home. One possible explanation is that he was still prime minister when he set up the firm.
The government and the former prime minister split the costs of the office, according to guidelines set out by the Knesset Finance Committee. The same guidelines also restrict the government’s share to an office measuring a maximum 140 square meters.
Three months ago, according to Globes, Raanan Dinor, who was Olmert's director-general when he was prime minister, asked for and received permission from the committee to make an exception and enlarge the limit by another 30 meters because of needs for additional security.
The cost of the office is NIS 90 ($23) a square meter per month, meaning that the government will fork out NIS 918,000 ($232,000) for rent over the next five years.
Olmert’s lawyers more than two months ago said that his health condition precludes him from attending a hearing on a proposed indictment accusing him of breach of trust because of alleged criminal corruption. The High Court accepted the argument without asking for an independent medical report.
In a separate case, the Ometz watchdog group last week asked the High Court to demand that State Prosecutor Moshe Lador explain why he did not recommend indicting Olmert on charges of using his position to favor two billionaire business friends in bidding for Bank Leumi several years ago. The men eventually dropped interest in the bank.
One other person - Benny Steinmetz – also previously had expressed interest in buying the bank.