Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was questioned at his home Friday morning by police investigators, for the sixth time, over the fraud and corruption allegations against him. The questioning is expected to involve the Talansky affair, as well as the allegations regarding illegal obtainment and use of travel expenses that are known as the "Olmert Tours" scandal.
Morris Talansky, a US citizen and former fundraiser for Prime Minister Olmert, became a key witness in a criminal investigation in Israel when it was discovered that Talansky gave Olmert and his associates cash-stuffed envelopes that never were reported to tax authorities.
State prosecutors announced Thursday that they will request that United States authorities not use Morris Talansky’s testimony in Israel in their own probes against the financier.
Talansky’s lawyers, Jacques Chen and Yehoshua Reznik, met Thursday with Israel’s State Attorney Moshe Lador and Jerusalem’s District Attorney for criminal affairs Eli Abarbanel. The Israeli officials made their official announcement following that meeting.
Chen and Reznik called for the meeting after Talansky’s US attorneys, Bradley Simon and Neal Sher, informed them that Talansky would not return to Israel for the completion of his scheduled cross-examination preliminary to a possible trial against Olmert. Talansky made the decision on the advice of Simon and Sher.
Lawyers for Olmert and his former bureau chief Shula Zaken were set to challenge Talansky in his recent testimony to the State on August 31 and September 1.
The US government has launched an investigation against Talansky based on suspicions resulting from his testimony before Jerusalem’s District Court several months ago, according to Simon and Sher. The two informed Talansky’s attorneys in Israel that a grand jury in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York has begun investigating Talansky as a result of his testimony in Israel.
So far, Israel’s State prosecutors have questioned Talansky for one day, while Olmert's and Zaken's lawyers have questioned him for five days.
The scandals surrounding Olmert have grown to the point where last month the PM announced that he would not run for election in a Kadima primary, which his party has scheduled to take place in December. While many in Israel take his announcement as a de facto resignation statement, Olmert may theoretically remain in power for more than a year.
In 16 years, not a single Prime Minister in Israel has served out his full term.