State prosecutors said they are seeking jail time for Ehud Olmert’s former
bureau chief Shula Zaken, calling her actions a betrayal of the public’s trust
during sentencing arguments in the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court on
Wednesday.
Earlier this year, Zaken was convicted of fraud and breach of
trust offenses in regard to the Tax Authority affair, one of the most serious
cases of publicsector corruption in the state’s history.
The prosecution
said it was seeking jail time because she betrayed the public that put its
confidence in her.
In February, the court found Zaken guilty of abusing
her position as bureau chief in the office of then-finance minister Ehud Olmert
between October 2005 and March 2006 by brokering bribes to advance the personal
interests of her brother, Yoram Karshi.
Her trial was held separately
from that of the other defendants in the affair. Three have already been
sentenced to prison terms by the Central District Court in Petah
Tikva.
In convicting Zaken earlier this year, Judge Haim Li-Ran said her
testimony before the court and statements to police had been “packed with
inaccuracies” and that her version of events did “not hold water.”
Zaken
faces charges in two other corruption cases. She is currently standing trial
alongside Olmert in the Jerusalem District Court where she has been indicted in
connection with the Rishon Tours and Talansky affairs. That trial is in its
closing arguments phase.
Zaken was also indicted in connection with the
Holyland real estate corruption scandal.
The related trial opened this
February in the Tel Aviv District Court.
Joanna Paraszczuk contributed to
this report.