Guardian UK: US businessman says he gave Olmert $150,000 in cash-stuffed envelopes

[marmar]

US businessman says he gave Olmert $150,000 in cash-stuffed envelopes
Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem
The Guardian, Wednesday May 28 2008


A US businessman at the centre of a high-profile corruption investigation told an Israeli court yesterday he gave thousands of dollars to Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, in envelopes stuffed with cash, some of which he claims was spent on expensive hotels, holidays and cigars.

Morris Talansky, a long-time supporter and friend of Olmert, said he gave at least $150,000 (£75,000) over 15 years, including the years when Olmert was a government minister and mayor of Jerusalem. There are no records of how the money was spent and Talansky admitted he was "disturbed" when Olmert specifically asked for cash rather than cheques.

Talansky's testimony yesterday at the Jerusalem district court comes as a major embarrassment to Olmert in this the fifth, and most serious, corruption investigation brought against him. But Talansky said he received no personal gain from the money he gave Olmert - who has denied any suggestions of corruption, adding he would resign if charges were brought against him.

Israeli prosecutors are investigating whether Olmert broke campaign finance laws in the years before he became prime minister in 2006. But yesterday's court appearance was not part of a trial. Talansky, 75, who is also a rabbi and a long-time fundraiser, lives in Long Island, New York, and the Israeli authorities wanted to take his testimony before he leaves for the US in case he did not return to Israel.

Olmert has already been questioned twice, but he has not been charged.

Yet the case has already dominated the Israeli media for several days and Talansky's testimony and his revelations of Olmert's expensive tastes will only put the prime minister under yet more pressure.

Talansky testified that Olmert asked for money in cash. When Talansky asked why it could not be given in cheques, he said Olmert told him it was down to internal regulations in his political party, which was then the rightwing Likud party. "I didn't really grasp it," Talansky said. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/28/israelandthepalestinians.usa