Olmert may be under Criminal investigation - or not

Israeli PM Ehud Olmert may soon be under criminal investigation.

 

State Attorney Eran Shendar indicated Monday night that he believed Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz should order a criminal investigation of two affairs involving Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's term of office as Minister of
Industry and Commerce under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

The cases include the investment center affair, where Olmert is suspected of giving favorable treatment to his close friend and former law partner, Uri Messer, and the case of the Small and Medium Business Authority, where he is suspected of making political appointments. Mazuz must decide whether to order police to launch a criminal investigation into these two matters.

 

We should note that there have been several such allegations against different Prime Ministers, including Ehud Olmert, Ariel Sharon and Ehud Barak. Until now, they never resulted in prosecution. It is anyone's guess whether there was really no case, or the Attorney General decided he had a case that couldn't be proven against a battery of high-powered lawyers, or whether there was a real cover-up.

 

Ami Isseroff