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Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reportedly sold his Jerusalem home for an inflated price to a past donor. (AP)
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| By Associated Press September 13, 2006 |
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A Jewish-American businessman who has donated money to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert bought a home owned by the Olmert family for 30 percent more than its market value in the mid-1990s, the Haaretz daily reported Wednesday.
The reported deal marked the latest sign of trouble for the Israeli leader, who is already facing criticism for his handling of the war in Lebanon and is being investigated for other another questionable real estate deal.
According to the report, Uri Harkham bought the home in Jerusalem's Nahlaot neighborhood in 1995 for the inflated price of about $660,000. He sold the house several years later for $430,000 a significant loss, the report said.
Harkham, a California real-estate owner and clothing maker, contributed $25,000 to Olmert's 1993 campaign for mayor of Jerusalem, according to the paper.
The questionable purchase would mark the third Jerusalem real estate scandal involving the prime minister in recent months.
Shlomit Lavi, a spokeswoman for the state comptroller's office, a government watchdog, said the office was not investigating the Harkham deal. She said the office was currently probing Olmert's purchase of another home in Jerusalem, allegedly for far below its market value.
A third sale and rental deal investigation was closed shortly before Olmert was elected in March.
Olmert sold that home in 2004 for $2.7 million to an offshore company controlled by U.S. tycoon S. Daniel Abraham, the billionaire founder of the Slim-Fast diet products, who contributed to an earlier Olmert election campaign.
State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss investigated the sale amid suspicions Olmert sold the house at a price higher than market value and then rented it from the new owners at an unrealistically low rate. The state comptroller closed the case, saying the price of the sale and rental had been reasonable.
The Nachlaot house was registered to Olmert's wife, Aliza, and served as a studio for her artwork before the Olmert children moved in.
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