Olmert 'Rishontours' trial to proceed

Court: Former PM's attorneys push for witness probe dismissed.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Ehud Olmert 311 AP Good Quality (photo credit: AP)
Ehud Olmert 311 AP Good Quality
(photo credit: AP)
Jerusalem District Court judges decided Thursday to proceed with the 'Rishon Tours' case brought against former prime minister Ehud Olmert, despite his attorney's request that the case be postponed.Former prime minister Ehud Olmert turned to government legal advisors Wednesday with a request to open an investigation against the attorney's office with suspicion of disruption during the trial that is being conducting against him in the "Rishontours" affair.
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The testimony given at the trial on Tuesday by Hadar Zaltsman, tour agent at "Rishontours," was halted after the defense was informed that she had received a 32-page document containing questions and answers from the investigation.
Olmert's laywers submitted a complaint to Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein demanding that senior officials at the State Prosecutor's Office be investigated under allegations of fraud and breach of trust.
The lawyers stressed the urgency of the issue explaining that the conduct of the prosecution was unacceptable and lacking solid evidence. The State is being accused of coaching witnesses to deliver pre-rehearsed testimonies.
The complaints are based on allegations that a key witness, Hadar Zaltsman, was given a 32-page document containing questions and answers that she might be asked during the trial.
Zaltsman is currently under cross-examination and the lawyers claim that these new developments cast a shadow on the entire trial.
The complaint stated that the witness confessed to receiving documents containing questions and answers during meetings with prosecution representatives.