Former Police Official: Indictment Against Olmert Likely

[Purveyor]

Published: 05.12.08, 13:31 / Israel News

The current police investigation against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert "will eventually lead to an indictment," former senior police officer Yaakov Borovsky said Monday.

Major-General (ret.) Borovsky, who headed the anti-corruption department at the State Comptroller's Office, is familiar with details of the probes against Olmert.

At a press conference in Haifa to present his candidacy for the city's mayorship, Borovsky noted that the prime minister had already been suspected of taking bribes on several other occasions.

The deposition that will be taken from American businessman Morris Talansky on Tuesday, he said, "Will demonstrate that it's not a matter of technicalities. Olmert is not suspected of unlawfully receiving funds, but of long-standing bribery-related offenses."

He added that "the current inquiry, the fact that a deposition process is set to take place, the documents and the timing indicate that an indictment will indeed be served."

---EOE---

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3542287,00.html

[LeftishBrit]

1. I HOPE this doesn't mean PM Netanyahu!

[MidwestTransplant]

2. I am not a conspiracy theorist but I wouldn't doubt that this is the goal.

[notfullofit]

3. Livni would beat Netanyahu

If Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni were to replace Prime Minsiter Ehud Olmert as Kadima's leader she would win a future election against Binyamin Netanyahu's Likud and Defense Minister Ehud Barak's Labor party, according to a poll published by Yediot Aharonot on Monday.

According to the poll, the public considers Livni to be the most appropriate figure in Kadima to replace Olmert should the prime minister resign, following the recent investigation being conducted against him on suspicion that he unlawfully received funds from American businessman Morris Talansky.

The poll predicted that with Livni leading Kadima the party would receive 27 seats in the Knesset, as opposed to 23 for Likud and 15 for Labor. According to the study, Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz would garner 17 seats as head of the party and Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit would tally only 13.

59 percent of the Israeli public think Olmert should resign or take a leave of absence, the Yediot poll showed, while only a third think he should remain in office.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1209627062320&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

[notfullofit]

4. Netanyahu likely to be the next PM

so who knows?........Palestinian statehood - as elusive as ever
snip....
THE DAILY barrage of missiles from Gaza, the failures of the Second Lebanon war, scandals that have seen the Israeli president resign and the prime minister under multiple corruption investigations cast shadows over this Independence Day celebration. The Olmert government could fall and if elections were held today it is likely the next prime minister would be Benjamin Netanyahu, who opposes Palestinian statehood and Bush's Annapolis initiative.

Abbas strengthens Netanyahu and the rejectionists when he tells Israelis that the anniversary of their independence is a day of mourning, and Palestinians will never recognize Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people.

Jews were driven out of Arab lands in roughly the same number as Arabs who fled Israel at the time of the creation of the Jewish state. The difference was the Jews were absorbed into the new state, given jobs and citizenship, while the Palestinians were largely confined to squalid camps in order for their unwilling Arab hosts to exploit them as political pawns to use against Israel.

Sixty years later Palestinian statehood is as elusive as ever and the Palestinians are still blaming their suffering on everyone but themselves. Now that's a catastrophe.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1209627059753&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

[Scurrilous]

5. Heckuva Job Olmert...

"Bush: Olmert is an honest man; our relationship is 'excellent'

<snip>

"On the eve of his arrival in Israel, U.S. President George W. Bush said Monday, in his first reference to the criminal investigation currently underway into the conduct of Israel's prime minister, he said that Ehud Olmert was "honest man."

Olmert is currently being investigated over suspicions he took bribes during his tenures as Jerusalem mayor and Trade Minister.

"I understand the legal issue goes on and I ... respect Israeli rule of law," Bush told reporters in the White House oval office. The American president went on to say that the relationship between himself and Olmert was "nothing but excellent."

"I have great relations with the prime minister, I find him to be a frank man, an honest man, an open man, a guy easy to talk to and somebody who understands the vision necessary for Israelis' security," Bush said."

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