Tel Aviv District Court Judge David Rozen has convicted former prime minister Ehud Olmert on charges of taking bribes in the Holyland affair. Nine of the twelve other people indicted in the case, among them Uri Lupolianski, who like Olmert was mayor of Jerusalem during the period that the Holyland project was going through planning procedures, were convicted along with Olmert.
The case concerns the Holyland real estate development that dominates Jerusalem's western skyline. Real estate developers Hillel Cherney and Avigdor Kelner have been convicted of bribing Olmert and Lupolianski and officials in the Jerusalem municipality to expedite planning permission for the project. The prosecution case rested largely on the evidence of a state's witness, Shmuel Dechner, who died during the course of the trial. Judge Rozen said in this morning's hearing that although Dechner's motives were not pure, he had fulfilled his duty under the law, and his evidence was credible. Dechner described having transferred some NIS 500,000 to Yossi Olmert, brother of Ehud Olmert, at the latter's request. Yossi Olmert was in financial difficulties. In the case of Lupolianski, the bribery took the form of donations to the Yad Sarah organization, which provides medical equipment on loan to the public, and which was founded by the Lupolianski family.
Olmert's former aide Shula Zaken, who was among the accused and who remained loyal to him for much of the trial, which began in July 2012, reached a last-minute plea bargain with the prosecutor under which she accepted an eleven month prison term in exchange for handing over telephone conversation recordings allegedly implicating Olmert in obstructing justice. Judge Rozen postponed handing down his verdicts in the case until today in order to consider whether to admit the further evidence, but it emerges that he had decided to convict Olmert in any event. Olmert will face further questioning by the police on these new allegations.
Prosecutor Adv. Yehonatan Tadmor said on exiting the court, "Today is a milestone in the public life of the State of Israel. The court said loudly and clearly that there had to be an end to the degradation and to corruption in government. The court's verdict is proof that Israeli society's immune system still works. The war on corruption requires a stubborn and uncompromising struggle."
The current trial is the latest, and most serious, in a series of corruption cases involving the former prime minister. In 2012, he was acquitted of corruptly receiving political campaign finance through US businessman Morris (Moshe) Talnasky and of claiming double travel expenses, but received a suspended prison sentence for corruptly obtaining government financing for businesses when he was Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor. Olmert was mayor of Jerusalem from 1993 to 2003, when he decided to return to national politics and Lupolianski succeeded him, and was prime minister from 2006 to 2009.
The other people convicted today are: Dan Dankner, chairman of Salt Industries, who only three months ago was handed a twelve month prison sentence and a further twelve months suspended, after being convicted of misconduct as chairman of Bank Hapoalim; former Jerusalem City Engineer Uri Sheetrit; Meir Rabin, who was an assistant to Shmuel Dechner; Eliezer Simhayof, a deputy mayor of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem city councilor Avraham Finer.
The three defendants found not guilty are Yaakov Efrati, who was head of the Israel Lands Administration, and Amnon Safran and Shimon Galon, both managers at the Holyland Park company..
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 31, 2014
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2013