Olmert stonewalls police investigators

PM grilled for 8th time on corruption allegations; refuses to answer questions on Rishon Tours case.

By ABE SELIG, DAN IZENBERG
olmert worried 248.88 ap (photo credit: AP [file])
olmert worried 248.88 ap
(photo credit: AP [file])
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stonewalled investigators from the National Fraud and Investigations Unit on Thursday when they questioned him about allegations of multiple billing flights abroad, dubbed the Rishon Tours scandal. Investigators arrived at Olmert's official residence on Thursday to question him for the eighth time regarding his roles in the various corruption scandals that led to his resignation last month. According to Olmert's media adviser, Amir Dan, Olmert told the investigators, "Just two weeks ago you recommended that I be indicted for a series of what you called 'severe offenses,' yet now you come back and open the case again?" Dan said that Olmert had told the investigators he would answer their questions after consulting with his attorney. "This is the real scandal!" Dan told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday. "After they said their investigation was over and they were ready to indict, they come back and say they really weren't so ready after all. It seems clear to me that the police are only after big headlines, and not [focused] on doing their job properly." But according to at least two legal experts, there is nothing unusual about what happened at the opening of Thursday's interrogation. Attorney Avigdor Feldman told the Post, "It isn't rare for the state prosecution to request of the police to ask a suspect questions regarding a file they are examining." Israel Radio legal affairs commentator Moshe Negbi also said that "gathering additional information regarding an investigation is a routine procedure. After the police hand over a case to the state prosecution, if the prosecution believes there are matters requiring further clarification, it will ask the police to question the suspect." Justice Ministry spokesman Moshe Cohen told the Post that the state prosecution had indeed asked the police to clarify certain matters. "We are not reopening the investigation," he said. "We are just filling certain holes. There was nothing dramatic about the questions the police asked." In the most serious allegations leveled against him, the prime minister is suspected of taking large amounts of cash from Long Island businessman Morris Talansky in return for political favors, and using state funds to pay for lavish overseas vacations. Olmert announced in August that he would step down after his replacement was elected in the then-upcoming Kadima primaries. Tzipi Livni emerged from that election with a narrow victory and is expected to replace Olmert in the coming weeks, if she can form a coalition. Regardless, police continued their various investigations into Olmert's alleged misconduct even after his resignation announcement, recommending last month that the prime minister be indicted on charges of corruption in the Talansky case, if not in others. Olmert has maintained his innocence in all the cases against him. Police have also said that that they suspect Olmert secured benefits and grants worth tens of millions of dollars for the Silicate factory in Dimona when the PM was serving as minister of industry, trade and labor. At the time, Uri Messer, a friend of Olmert's and his former law partner, had represented the company. The prime minister is also suspected of purchasing an apartment on Jerusalem's pricy Cremieux Street for a reduced price, during his time as minister of industry, trade and labor. Olmert purportedly received the lower price in return for speeding up sales in the building project.