With the ongoing investigation against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (Kadima), the police video of American businessman Moshe (Morris) Talansky being interrogated by detectives from the National Fraud Unit has been released. In scenes reminiscent of TV police dramas, the central witness in the investigation against the PM describes the flow of cash.
The video shows Talansky describing the actions of a group of American financiers providing “a lot of cash” for Olmert’s various political campaigns. According to the video testimony, PM Olmert would inform Talansky when money was needed. He would call and say “we need money for the Knesset…polls, advertising, campaign workers…”
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Talansky describes how he would organize meetings of interested American supporters of Israel, who would then donate money which was gathered and transferred to Olmert by Talansky. He also states that most of the donations were in cash and that donors feared giving checks would complicate them with Israeli or US authorities. PM Olmert’s trusted personal bureau chief, Shula Zaken, would pick up the money from Talansky. “We had meetings and people came and gave $1,200 checks. That’s how it was,” according to Talansky. He also emphatically noted that at least $75,000 in total was transferred to Olmert for his political machinations and campaigns.
Concurrently, PM Olmert’s testimony has been leaked to the major Israeli press. In his testimony, the PM denied personal receipt of any cash from Talansky, and placed blame on Shula Zaken, who was responsible for funding within the office. The PM also responded to most of the investigators’ inquiries with “I can’t remember” and “I am not sure.”