’Israeli’ Court Convicts ex-PM Olmert in Bribery Case

Local Editor

"Israeli" court convicted former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of bribery on Monday over his ties to a real-estate deal while in his previous post of Occupied al-Quds mayor, likely ending any prospect of a political comeback.
Olmert had denied wrongdoing in the Holyland apartment complex deal, and other corruption allegations that forced his resignation as premier in 2008.

In 2012, Olmert was acquitted of major charges in separate cases involving his links to a US businessman while he was a mayor and an "Israeli" cabinet minister.

"Judge" David Rozen, handing down the conviction in the so-called "Tel Aviv District Court", said the case "exposed governance that grew more corrupt and rotten over the years", with bribes paid to public officials.

Olmert was found guilty of receiving bribes, with the judge slamming what he described as a "corrupt political system which has decayed over years... and in which hundreds of thousands of shekels were transferred to elected officials."
Only three of the 12 defendants were acquitted.

The verdict was originally set to be given to all defendants on Monday, but new evidence, recently provided by Shula Zaken against her old boss, former prime minister Ehud Olmert, has led the prosecution to request a two week postponement in order to allow for the investigation to complete and for Zaken to testify against Olmert.
Zaken provided the prosecution with a recording in which Olmert allegedly tried to convince her not to sign a witness deal. The "Israeli" police's anti-fraud unit is now investigating Olmert, who could be facing charges of obstruction of justice and witness tampering.

Rosen was supposed to decide by Sunday whether to postpone giving verdict to Olmert and Zaken, but has decided to push the decision until a hearing on Monday at 9 am, to which all defendants must arrive.
"All of the defendants must present themselves to the court - or they will be arrested," Rosen said.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team