An Israeli court has cleared former prime minister Ehud Olmert of the
central charges in a multi-case corruption trial that forced him from
power, but convicted him of a lesser charge of breach of trust. The
verdict was seen as a major victory for Olmert, who stepped down as
prime minister for the centrist Kadima Party in 2009 to battle
allegations that included accepting cash-stuffed envelopes from a
supporter and pocketing the proceeds from a double-billing scam on
overseas travel.
His conviction on the lesser charge of "breach of
trust" made him the first Israeli prime minister ever convicted of a
crime, and his legal troubles are far from over. He will be sentenced on
September 6 and is currently standing trial in a separate property
bribery case. For now at least, a return to politics for the 66-year-old
appears unlikely.
Olmert appeared calm and relieved as the
verdict was delivered in the Jerusalem court. As he left the courtroom,
the former prime minister had a wide smile on his face and kissed
defence lawyers and advisers.
Speaking to reporters afterwards,
Olmert proudly declared his innocence. "There was no corruption. There
was no taking of money. There was no use of money. There were no cash
envelopes," Olmert said. He said the lone conviction was merely a
"procedural lapse" from which he would draw the necessary lessons.
The
verdict, which capped a two-year trial, covered three separate
allegations: illegally accepting funds from an American supporter,
double-billing Jewish groups for trips abroad and channelling state
grants to companies linked to a close friend. He was acquitted in the
first two cases and found guilty in the last.
The first case was
the most dramatic, with Jewish American businessman Morris Talansky
flown in to testify that he handed the former Israeli leader envelopes
stuffed with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, painting him as a
high-living traveller fond of fancy hotels and first-class travel. The
second case of double-billing assured his resignation, with Olmert
unable to withstand public pressure to step down as the corruption
charges multiplied.
The court on Tuesday convicted a close Olmert
aide, Shula Zaken, of fraud and breach of trust in that case, but said
there was "reasonable doubt" that the prime minister knew what had
happened. It noted that Zaken refused to testify in the case, making it
difficult to convict Olmert.
In the last case, the court convicted
Olmert of breach of trust for steering job appointments and contracts
to clients of a close associate when he served as minister of industry
and trade. The court called it a "harsh conflict of interest that
amounted to a breach of trust because there was a conflict between his
personal commitment to this man and his public responsibilities".
Olmert's lawyer, Eli Zohar, said he would not appeal against this
conviction.
The charges were filed after Olmert became prime
minister in 2006, but stemmed from his time as mayor of Jerusalem and
later as a Cabinet minister. After he was indicted in 2008, he announced
his resignation, remaining as prime minister until February 2009
elections that brought the current prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu,
into office. The proceedings involved 152 court sessions over two years,
producing 4,000 pages of testimony. The case first broke more than four
years ago.
Source: Press Association
