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Olmert: feeling the heat (AP file)
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners September 3, 2006 |
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Israel's state comptroller is recommending a criminal investigation of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's appointments in a previous ministry, Israeli media reported Sunday.
The comptroller, Micha Lindenstrauss, issued a critical report about alleged irregularities in appointments in the Trade and Industry Ministry while Olmert was in charge before becoming prime minister earlier this year.
His recommendation to open a police investigation must be endorsed by the attorney general, Meni Mazuz.
In a letter sent to Mazuz, Lindenstrauss wrote that he "identifies suspicions of crimes" in a report on Olmert's tenure in the ministry.
Olmert is suspected of having appointed cronies to posts in the Israel Small and Medium Enterprises Authority.
Last Monday, Lindenstrauss issued a report in which he criticized Olmert for having authorized illegal appointments during his three-year tenure as Industry, Trade and Labor minister under former prime minister Ariel Sharon.
The report also notes illegal conduct by the ministry's former director-general and the current Director-General of the Prime Minister's Office, Raanan Dinur.
"The inspection findings raise the fear that the authority served as a convenient route for political appointments of people" affiliated with Olmert's party, the report said.
"The authority operated while ignoring the norms of the public law, issuing projects in which employees recruited in an improper and unequal process were employed, with their only apparent quality being their association with the minister's party," read the report.
Responding to the report, Dinur said his ministry implemented a series of changes to allow the authority to work "properly and effectively."
Lindenstrauss has also been looking into a real estate deal in which Olmert purchased a Jerusalem apartment for a price that was apparently below its value. He later sold it to a millionaire U.S. backer on what appeared to be an unusually favorable terms.
Olmert has been dogged by corruption charges through his long career in public life but has never been convicted. He has denied any wrongdoing.
The AP and ynetnews contributed to this report.
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