Ex-’Israeli’ PM Olmert Gets 8 Months Prison for Corruption
Local Editor
An "Israeli" court sentenced former premier Ehud Olmert to eight months in prison on Monday, after convicting him of corruption in a March retrial, "Israeli" media reported.
Lawyers for Olmert, who served as premier from 2006 to 2009, immediately announced they would appeal.
The 69-year-old already faces a six-year prison sentence handed down in a separate bribery case which is currently the subject of an appeal to the Zionist entity's so-called "supreme" court.
Olmert has always insisted on his innocence, describing the allegations against him as "a brutal, ruthless witch-hunt".
Olmert had initially been acquitted of fraud and corruption in the case, escaping in 2012 with a $19,000 fine and a suspended jail sentence for breach of trust.
But new evidence came to light during his trial in the other corruption case, and prosecutors again pressed the charges.
In return for a reduction in sentence, his former secretary and confidante Shula Zaken brought to the court secret recordings of conversations she had with Olmert.
Olmert is heard talking about the tens of thousands of dollars that he received from businessman Morris Talansky while trade and industry minister in the early 2000s.
The six-year prison sentence handed down against Olmert in May last year was the first ever against a former "Israeli" premier for corruption.
Olmert resigned as premier in September 2008 after police recommended that he be indicted for graft, but he remained in office until March 2009, when the current premier, Benjamin Netanyahu, was sworn in.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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