Lawyers for Morris Talansky negotiating possible return

Financier at center of Olmert 'cash envelopes' case.

By ALLISON HOFFMAN JPOST CORRESPONDENT IN NEW YORK
talansky 248.88 (photo credit: AP)
talansky 248.88
(photo credit: AP)
Lawyers for Morris Talansky, the New York financier at the center of one of the probes against outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, are negotiating with Israeli authorities about his potential return to Jerusalem for further testimony in the case. "We're preparing a response with respect to the Israeli prosecutors this week regarding Talansky's return," attorney Bradley Simon told The Jerusalem Post on Monday. Israeli investigators want Talansky, 76, to continue testimony he began last summer, when he told the court he gave Olmert cash payments worth approximately $150,000. Talansky failed to return to Israel for further testimony in September after US investigators launched their own probe against him . In January, the US Department of Justice offered Talansky partial immunity on an array of money laundering, tax evasion and bribery charges, but his lawyers say the deal wouldn't protect him from possible US prosecution. "The immunity agreement with the US doesn't protect him at all," Simon told the Post. Talansky has denied any criminal liability in the affair. Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz announced Sunday evening after a final review of the so-called "cash envelopes" affair with State Attorney Moshe Lador that he was prepared to indict Olmert based on Talansky's prior testimony.