Olmert to be indicted, Israeli attorney-general says (2nd Roundup)

Nov 26, 2008, 20:34 GMT

Jerusalem - Israeli caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will be tried over suspicions that he multiple-billed travel expenses while serving in public office in the years before he became prime minister, Israel's attorney-general announced Wednesday.

Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz made the announcement that he plans to recommend Olmert be indicted over the so-called 'Rishon Tours' affair after a lengthy police investigation, which had ended with police saying enough evidence had been gathered to press charges.

He stressed that a final decision is pending a hearing before the attorney-general to which Olmert or his attorneys are entitled. A date for that hearing had yet to be set, a statement issued by Israel's Justice Ministry said.

The indictment is likely to include a number of charges, including fraud under aggravated circumstances and breach of trust, it said.

The Israeli leader reiterated his denial of the charges, and even accused the attorney-general and state prosecutors of carrying out a 'planned ambush' against him.

Mazuz said Olmert accumulated some 85,000 US dollars by submitting bills for the same journey multiple times to more than one body.

These included such institutions as the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial centre in Jerusalem, the Simon Wiesethal Centre, the World Jewish Congress and also the state.

He allegedly did so during the time he served as mayor of Jerusalem and as trade and industry minister between 2002 and 2006.

Olmert would be invited during one trip to lecture at several events organized by these bodies abroad and then separately submit his travel expenses to each one of them as if they were the only one paying, the statement said. At times he would submit the bill to the state as well.

During those years, he used a travel agency south of Tel Aviv to book his flights, named Rishon Tours, which would send the bills to the various bodies at Olmert's orders and those of his office staff, Mazuz said.

At times the bills submitted did not match the actual amount of money paid to the airline and was 'significantly higher.' At times, the flight routes were 'fictitious' and Olmert did not fly via them at all, he said in his strongly worded statement.

The money was transferred to a special bank account managed by the Rishon Tours travel agency and used for 'dozens of private trips' abroad made by Olmert and his family, as well as to upgrade his business flights.

Mazuz stressed the travel agency acted on the orders and with the knowledge of Olmert as well as his office manager Shula Zaken, who is also to face an indictment.

Olmert's actions, he added, also violated a prohibition by law to receive additional payments or perks for the lectures he gave, on top of the government salary he was already receiving.

He had been hiding the account managed by Rishon Tours from the state comptroller, and also failed to report about the money he kept in it to the tax authorities and in his annual income statement.

The Israeli legal advisor accused Olmert of 'abuse of his position' and 'systematic fraud' over a period of years.

The affair is one of several for which Olmert is being investigated. The premier resigned in September to fight the corruption charges, paving the way for early elections to be held in Israel on February 10. After his resignation, he became the head of a transitional government, which continues to govern the country until a new one is formed after the elections.

Mazuz ordered the police investigation into the affair, also dubbed 'Olmert Tours' by the Israeli media, in June, after the suspicions arose during a police investigation into another affair in which the caretaker premier is suspected of having accepted large sums of cash from Jewish American businessman and fundraiser Morris Talansky.

In a statement issued by his representatives, Olmert accused the Israeli legal establishment, including the attorney-general and the Justice Ministry, of trying to press charges against him at all cost, after the police investigation into the Talansky affair failed so far to materialize into an indictment.

'After the prosecution suffered a harsh blow in the Talansky affair and after it toppled a sitting prime minister, it is self- evident that those in the Justice Ministry cannot settle for anything else,' said the statement.

It accused the attorney-general of presenting a 'one-sided' and 'erroneous' picture which would eventually 'crack and fall apart.'

'It is amazing how they are so enthusiastic that they cannot even wait for a short time from the moment the prime minister returned from the United States to issue their statement. This is really a planned ambush under the sponsorship of the law enforcement establishment.'