Finance Minister Avraham Hirschson informed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Sunday morning that he is suspending himself from his government post and Knesset seat for three months until the police investigation against him is over. According to his lawyer Yaakov Weinroth, Hirschson maintains his innocence and will fight to protect his good name.
Hirschson has been interrogated by police four times in the past weeks, regarding allegations of embezzlement of very large sums of money from nonprofit non-governmental organizations (NGOs) he chaired. The organizations were run by National Workers Histadrut Labor Federation, which he headed from 1995. The main allegations relate to money allegedly embezzled from the Nili (Jewish Youth for Israel) organization.
Several weeks ago, Maariv newspaper reported that Hirschson had transferred about 200,000 USD to a 'senior personality' who used it for private expenditures, or for an election campaign. According to leaks, the 'senior personality' is none other than Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who allegedly used the money for his internal Likud election campaign.
One of the NGOs run by Hirschson is The March of the Living, a yearly march by Israeli youth held at the sites of former concentration camps Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland. Hirschson's name decorates the homepage of the March of the Living organization as founder, but he did not attend the latest 'March of the Living' on Holocaust Remembrance Day last week. He was asked – by the Poles, among others – to stay away. 
200,000 USD may have gone to Olmert, who allegedly used it for his internal Likud election campaign. 
Hirschson has allegedly been receiving hundreds of thousands of shekels of cash envelopes, and holding some of them in a safe deposit box. He had a hard time explaining to police where he received four million shekels that were in his account. He denied embezzling them and claimed he received the money from family members including his son and a sister of his late wife.
Hirschson is suspected of theft, fraudulent receipt of goods in aggravated circumstances, fraud, falsification of corporate documents, and breach of trust.
Following Hirschson's announcement, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that he will "of course" assume the responsibilities of finance minister. Olmert is scheduled to meet with finance ministry officials Sunday afternoon for his first working session.
The Legal Forum for the Land of Israel, however, sent an urgent letter to Olmert and to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz warning that Olmert's assumption of the finance portfolio creates a blatant conflict of interest.
The Forum's lawyer Yitzhak Baum writes: "On January 16, 2007, the State Prosecutor decided to open a criminal probe into the sale of Bank Leumi shares. According to reports, State Prosecutor Eran Shendar ordered the police to question the prime minister on suspicion of attempting to influence the tender on behalf of his confidants, at a time when Olmert was acting Finance Minister."
Baum notes that the criminal probe is still ongoing in the Bank Leumi affair, and some of the finance ministry officials have still not been investigated. "It is not reasonable," writes the Legal Forum attorney, "that the person about whom the ministry officials will be answering the police's questions would be appointed their superior when their testimony could bring about his being found guilty."
Baruch Gordon contributed to this story.