Ehud Olmert (archive photo)
Photo: Reuters
Comptroller urges continued investigation against Olmert
Lindenstrauss says Olmert purposely delaying his response to allegations regarding the purchase of an apartment in upscale Jerusalem neighborhood in 2004
State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss transferred to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz on Sunday a draft of a report concerning the purchase of a Jerusalem apartment by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Lindenstrauss recommended that the investigation of the purchase continue, but added that “other techniques that are not at the disposal of the comptroller’s office should be employed.”
He did not recommend that Mazuz order the launching of a criminal investigation into the affair.
The comptroller said the prime minister has yet to respond to the allegations made against him, as is required by law.
“To this date we have not received the prime minister’s response to the allegations presented to him three months ago, even though the law requires him to do so,” Lindenstrauss said in his report.
The comptroller said Olmert resorted to “various stalling techniques” to delay his response.
The Prime Minister’s Office said in response that Lindenstrauss “tried hard to undermine the prime minister…and when this didn't work, he invented a baseless report and sent it to the attorney general."
'New and unequivocal evidence'
About a year ago it was reported that during his tenure as industry, trade and labor minister Olmert received a $320,000 discount on an apartment on Cremieux Street in exchange for expediting construction permits, using his contacts as a former Jerusalem mayor.
The apartment was purchased in October 2004 for $1.2 million, which, according the report, means the developers lost money on the transaction.
However, real-estate agents familiar with the market said that the price charged for the apartment at the time was reasonable.
The developer submitted to the state comptroller "new and unequivocal evidence" in September, according to which about a month before the prime minister and his wife purchased the property, the company offered the exact same apartment to different buyers for $100,000 less.
