Prosecutors have indicted former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's travel coordinator, Rachael Raz-Risbi, on charges linked to the Rishon Tours affair. Raz-Risbi was the first to be indicted in the case.
The affair involves allegations that Olmert double and triple billed for trips with the help of Raz-Risbi and top aide Shula Zaken, pocketing the extra funds to use for non-business travel. The former PM is accused of stealing more than $92,000.
Raz-Risbi is accused of fraud and breach of trust. The indictment included a list of trips for which Olmert, Zaken and Raz-Risbi allegedly double-billed, and the organizations targeted to pay for trips, including the March of the Living, Yad Vashem and the Association for the Wellbeing of Israel's Soldiers.
Shortly after the indictment was filed, Olmert's attorneys sent a letter to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz informing him that Olmert would not attend a hearing scheduled for later in the month. The hearing was meant to give Olmert a final chance to prove his innocence prior to indictment.
The attorneys said that Raz-Risbi's indictment proved that prosecutors have already decided to charge Olmert, making the hearing irrelevant. Prosecutors “are not even attempting to keep up appearances” by refraining from accusing Olmert prior to the indictment, they said.
"In these circumstances, when you have violated Mr. Olmert's right to a meaningful hearing, we will not appear for a hearing in the matter of 'Rishon Tours.' You keep doing as you please, and Mr. Olmert maintains the rights stemming from the fact that you have violated his right to the mandatory hearing,” they concluded.