American businessman Joe Elmaleh, a long-time crony of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert with a highly controversial business record, lent his friend $75,000 fifteen years ago. The money never was repaid, similar to the $150,000 lent by American businessman Morris Talansky to Prime Minister Olmert over the past 10 years.
Elmaleh and Talanaksy worked with Prime Minister Olmert as officials for the New Jerusalem Foundation, which was registered in the United States in 1999 and used Talansky's home address. Ehud Olmert was the foundation's president, Talansky is the treasurer and Elmaleh is listed as a director. Another director was Rana'an Dinur, who now heads the Prime Minister's office.
Elmaleh was the long-time chairman of Isramco, a publicly-traded company that explored for gas and oil in Israel. In the 1990s, Olmert sat on the board of directors of Elmaleh's Jerusalem Oil Exploration company.
Documents of Prime Minister's assets include the $75,000 loan that was given in 1993, several months before Olmert, then an Opposition Knesset Member, won the race for mayor of Jerusalem.
Documents of Prime Minister's assets include the $75,000 loan that was given in 1993.
During the police probe, Prime Minister Olmert claimed he has not repaid the loan because it has not yet come due. Five years ago, former State Comptroller and Ombudsman Eliezer Goldberg ordered Elmaleh to sign a document in which Olmert, then Deputy Prime Minister stated, "The original loan that I took from you … was for $75,000. The conditions of the loan were linkage plus 3 percent interest… From here on in it is agreed that if you do not request the money, I will return it to you in full in January 2009."
Elmaleh also is involved in a court case in Britain, in which cancer-stricken Anne Marie Morely, 71, accused him of taking millions of dollars from her in four property deals in which she handed over to him control of three residences.
The New Jerusalem Foundation, in which Olmert, Elmaleh, and Talansky were officers, has proven to be a main funnel for funds. A Texas prayer convention raised $400,000 in cash and pledges for the Foundation, which was to use the money to aid victims of Arab terrorism. Another fund-raising event in California raised $500,000.
However, the Post reported two years ago that the New Jerusalem Foundation did not report the tax-deductible contributions, meaning that they "went to a different entity or the foundation filed a false" document.
The criminal investigation against Prime Minister Olmert has reached a critical stage, and his lawyers are scheduled to cross-examine Talansky Thursday. The American businessman said he "will not break down" under the questioning and is prepared to tell everything he knows.
Neither Talansky nor Elmaleh is suspected of any wrongdoing. The Prime Minister is being investigated for receiving cash in violation of the law and for possibly fraud and bribery.