Olmert found guilty of one of Israel’s largest corruption scandals
Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert was this week convicted in his bribery trial.
The verdict could send him to prison and has crushed his hopes of making a political comeback.
It ends the most serious legal battle 68-year-old Olmert has faced since he was forced to step down as PM in 2009 amid a flurry of corruption allegations. It also capped a political career that saw him transformed from a sharp-tongued, hard-line backbencher in the Likud Party into a global statesman whose push for peace with the Palestinians came crashing down due to his legal troubles.
The Tel Aviv district court handed down its decision this week in a Jerusalem real estate scandal case related to Olmert’s activities when he was mayor of Jerusalem and before he became prime minister in 2006.
A total of 13 government officials, developers and other business people were charged in connection with three separate schemes related to the Holyland housing development in Jerusalem, in what was regarded as perhaps the largest corruption scandal ever exposed in Israel.
“It is not an easy day for Olmert,” his lawyer Roy Blecher said upon leaving the court. Sentencing is set for 28 April. Legal experts said the conviction will almost certainly entail a custodial sentence for Olmert.
According to the original 2012 indictment, millions of dollars illegally changed hands to promote a series of real estate projects, including a controversial housing development in Jerusalem that required a radical change in zoning laws and earned the developers tax breaks and other benefits.
Olmert was charged for acts committed while he was mayor of Jerusalem and minister of industry and trade. He was accused of taking bribes to push the project forward.
The conviction brings to a dramatic end Olmert’s long political career, which was dogged by corruption allegations but which – until now – rarely stuck. Without a natural rival to prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Olmert was often mentioned as a potential centre-left alternative, should he survive his legal woes.
He is expected to appeal against the decision, but either way his political career was over, said Tamir Sheafer, a professor of political science at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University. “Even if he is somehow exonerated, his career is over,” he said.
“He had to come out as pure as snow to carry on.”
Olmert has already faced a trial on separate charges of accepting illicit funds from an American supporter and double-billing Jewish groups for trips abroad. He was cleared in 2012 of the most serious charges but convicted on a lesser count of breach of trust for steering jobs and contracts to clients of business partners and received a suspended one-year sentence.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
