Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was found guilty of accepting cash-filled envelopes from a U.S. Jewish businessman and using it for personal gain.
A three-judge panel of the Jerusalem District Court announced the verdict March 30 in the retrial of the so-called Talansky Affair. The court found Olmert guilty on charges of fraud under aggravating circumstances and breach of trust.
Israel’s Supreme Court ordered the new trial last month to allow the introduction of new testimony from Olmert’s former assistant Shula Zaken. The material included recordings of incriminating conversations between Olmert and Zaken, who provided the information last spring as part of a plea bargain. The recordings showed that Olmert used the money from the businessman, Morris Talansky, for personal and not political use.
A lawyer for Olmert said the former prime minister will appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.
Olmert did not testify during the retrial. He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 5 and faces up to five years in prison, though he is more likely to receive a shorter prison sentence or community service.
Olmert officially resigned as prime minister in 2008 after police investigators recommended that he be indicted. He remained in power until national elections in February 2009, when Benjamin Netanyahu was elected.
Olmert was sentenced to six years in prison for accepting bribes in the real estate scam known as the Holyland Affair and ordered to report to prison on Sept. 1, 2014. The prison date was suspended pending his appeal.
Olmert is the first Israeli prime minister to be sentenced to prison. — jta