PREVIEW: Trial against former premier Olmert to start in Israel

Feb 24, 2010, 15:04 GMT

Jerusalem - The first trial in Israeli history against a former premier is scheduled to formally begin in Jerusalem's District Court Thursday.

Former premier Ehud Olmert made his first court appearance already in September, for a preliminary procedural hearing in which he and his former office manager were asked if they had read and understood the indictments filed against them.

Both were indicted in August on counts including fraud, breach of trust, falsification of documents and failure to report income.

On Thursday, however, the evidence phase of the trial is set to start - some 18 months after Olmert resigned amid corruption allegations.

Amongst other charges, he is suspected of having submitted multiple times over the same travel expenses for trips abroad to different government bodies and Jewish organizations.

The ex-premier allegedly pocketed the excesses, which accumulated in a special account managed by his travel agent, and used them for private trips with his family. That alleged corruption scandal became known in the Israeli media as Rishon Tours, after the travel agency, or as 'Olmertours.'

The former premier is also suspected of having accepted envelopes with large amounts of cash from Jewish-American businessman Morris Talansky. Olmert insists they constituted legitimate donations.

His office manager Shula Zaken allegedly in many cases accepted the money on his behalf.

Lastly, Olmert stands accused of cronyism, allegedly giving preferential treatment to a factory represented by a friend of his, Uri Messer, when he served as trade and industry minister.

The allegations stem from when Olmert, 64, served as mayor of Jerusalem between 1993 and 2003, and as a minister from 2003 until he became prime minister in 2006.

But the most serious ones first surfaced months after he relaunched peace negotiations with the Palestinians.

The charges forced the premier of the centrist Kadima party to resign in September of last year.

As a result, Israel was pushed into early elections which saw the hardline Likud party of current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu return to power, and sent Kadima into opposition.

The allegations, and the election campaign, cut short the intensive peace talks launched at a November 2007 summit in Annapolis, Maryland after a seven-year freeze in the peace process.

Olmert's media advisor Amir Dan, asked by the German Press Agency dpa, confirmed the defence team believed the allegations were, if not initiated, at least blown up by political enemies.

He nonetheless did not believe the team would use that suspicion as part of their defence argument during the trial, because they lacked 'solid proof.'

'We do think that the buzz, the loud noise that was created in the media, of course it was politically motivated. There were those people behind the scenes who of course benefited from it and exploited the situation for their own interests,' he charged.

He said the defence would instead use detailed facts to disproof the prosecution.

The Ma'ariv daily has called the first trial of a former premier in Israel 'an embarrassing precedent in the country's history.'

The trial is expected to last at least several months.

Some 280 witnesses are expected to be heard. The sides also plan to present large amounts of documents to the judges.

One court session is scheduled to take place once a week on Thursdays for the first three weeks.

After that, the sessions are scheduled to increase to twice and three times a week.