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| By Israel Insider staff July 11, 2008 |
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Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was questioned again Friday about the hundreds of thousands of dollars allegedly received over 15 years from Jewish-American businessman Morris Talansky. Haaretz quoted a police source as saying that the allegations are extremely serious and that an ordinary citizen would have been arrested by now for such allegations. An Olmert aide accused the police of unfair treatment and tendentious leaks.
Talansky testified in May that he gave Olmert hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash-stuffed envelopes, and that funds went to pay for expensive cigars, luxury hotels, business-to-first-class upgrades and other extravagances. His testimony further implicated a prime minister who has faced four other police investigations since he was elected two years ago.
Law enforcement sources said that had Olmert not been prime minister, he would have been arrested long ago. "Anyone else would have been arrested had similar suspicions been raised against him. Unlike any other suspect, Olmert is getting privileged treatment. He is setting the date and duration of the questioning," the source told Haaretz.
A source familiar with the investigation said new evidence strengthens the suspicions against Olmert and includes witnesses who say that they saw Talansky carrying cash for Olmert. Olmert apparently intends to tell the detectives that he does not remember details of occasions on which Talansky financed flights and hotel rooms for him, sources close to the Prime Minister said, according to Haaretz.
But Olmert's media adviser Amir Dan complained that "it's time the police stopped their tendentious leaks. When the police leak, its called 'the public's right to know,' but when a suspect tries to defend himself he is accused of damaging the rule of law."
Dan said that "nothing the police say surprises me any more," commenting on the report that the police will be tougher with Olmert today and would not let him speak on the phone or scold them for leaks.
He said that "the police's threats remind me of other days and regimes. Where has it been heard that police in a democratic country talk like that against an elected prime minister?"
"The police have turned this case into a personal campaign against Olmert. We didn't start the leaks. The media has been full of headlines against Olmert in recent weeks, leaked by the police and prosecution," a source close to Olmert said. |
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