A suspended jail term for three years, a NIS 75,000 fine, and no community service is the sentence passed on former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, following his conviction for breach of trust in the Investments Promotion Center case. The sentence means that Olmert can return to politics and run for the Knesset.
Jerusalem District Court judges Moussia Arad, Jacob Zaban, and Moshe Sobel said that their decision was based on the unique circumstances of the case, in which Olmert resigned as prime minister because of the investigation against him and testimony given by Morris Talansky in court.
"We do not rule out that were it not for the special circumstances of the case before us, it would have been proper to require community service," wrote the judges in the verdict. "But the present case is very special. The accused served as prime minister, and announced his resignation more than a year before the indictment was filed. This matter is significant deciding the degree of punishment."
The judges said that Olmert violated the ban on conflicts of interest in four cases when he was the minister responsible for the Investments Promotion Center at the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor: Shemen Industries Ltd. (TASE;SHMN), Bezeq Israeli Telecommunication Co. Ltd. (TASE: BEZQ), Nevatim, and Dimona Silica Industries Ltd. "The plaintiff's conduct in several circumstances had serious affects that resulted in material harm to all the values protected by the crime of breach of trust," said the judges.
Olmert was indicted in August 2009. The case was heard by a panel of three judges of the Jerusalem District Court, headed by Judge Arad, who will retire after this case.
In July 2012, the judges unanimously acquitted Olmert of most of the charges against him, and only convicted him for breach of trust in the Investments Promotion Center case. His acquittal in the Rishontours case, in which his chief of staff Shula Zaken was convicted for fraud, was on the grounds of reasonable doubt. He was acquitted in the Talansky case when the court dismissed the claim that violation of the rules against conflict of interests applying to ministers was a criminal violation of breach of trust.
The State Prosecutor asked for six months in jail for Olmert and Zaken, as well as a suspended sentence and a fine. Olmert's attorney asked for no penalties at all, on the grounds that his suffering during the trial was punishment enough. After Olmert announced just before the hearing on the verdict that he would forego any financial benefits accruing to him as a former prime minister, the prosecutor decided not to ask the court to declare that there was moral turpitude in the crime for which he was convicted.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 24, 2012
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