Key witness Talansky
Photo: Avigail Uzi
Main suspect Olmert
Photo: Reuters
State Prosecutor Lador
Photo: Gil Yohanan
Talansky to be asked on nature of his relations with Olmert
Following legal battles and several delays, US businessman suspected of bribing prime minister to take witness stand, give pre-trial deposition
American Businessman Morris Talansky,
the key witness in the recent police investigation against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert,
will be deposed Tuesday morning and provide his version regarding the nature of his relations with Olmert during the latter's tenure as industry, trade and labor minister.
Olmert's lawyers attempted to prevent
Talansky's pre-trial deposition, but failed. The prime minister has already been questioned
twice in relation to the affair and police officials have said that additional interrogations will be required.
Talansky is expected to be asked about these relations in a bid to prove that the prime minister committed the following offenses: Fraud, breach of trust, violation of the Gift Law and perhaps even bribery.
PM Probe
Yedioth Ahronoth reporters
Police, State Prosecutor's Office sources report of tense session between National Fraud Unit investigators, Prime minister Olmert. Latter said to be cooperative, sketchy on cardinal details. Police say he failed to refute suspicions against him
The Jerusalem District Court is expected to be filled to the brim Tuesday morning. Talansky will be accompanied by his lawyer, Attorney Jack Chen. Olmert's attorneys - Eli Zohar, Roi Blecher and Prof. Ron Shapira – will stand at the courtroom next to Attorney Micha Fetman, the lawyer of the prime minister's former bureau chief Shula Zaken.
The State will be represented by State Prosecutor Moshe Lador and Jerusalem District Attorney Eli Abarbanel. Attorney General Menachem Mazuz's senior advisor, Ran Nizri, is also expected to attend the court session. The panel of judges includes Zvi Saban, Moussia Arad and Moshe Sobel.
The questions
Talansky, who is expected to testify until 4 pm and may be asked to return to the court in the coming days, will be asked about the following issues:
- What was the nature of his relations with the prime minister and how close were they?
- Were the ties between the two business-based or politically motivated?
- Were their relations based on a system of "give and take"?
- What was the nature of their transactions throughout the years?
- What was the extent of financial dealings between the two?
- Did Talansky directly transfer funds to Olmert and how?
- What was the origin of the funds delivered to the then industry, trade and labor minister?
At this stage of the deposition, the prime minister's attorneys are expected to waive their right to cross examine the witness, under the claim they were not given enough time to prepare for the interrogation and were not privy to the evidence collected by the police in due time.
What differs a pre-trial deposition and a testimony given during a regular criminal trial is the narrow leeway given to the defense: The defense attorneys can voice their objections to the prosecutors' questions, but the witness has to answer them anyway. The court decides whether or not to sustain or overrule the defense's objections much later, while the verdict is written. All that depends, of course, on an indictment being filed.
A pre-trial deposition is considered rare legal maneuver and is usually carried out when there is an actual concern to the future testimony's integrity; in which case the State opts to have the testimony entered into court records, even before an indictment is filed, and in some cases – like Olmert's – before a final decision on an indictment in made.
In Talansky's case, since the affair came to light, officials at the State Prosecutor's Office expressed their concern time and again that should Talansky be allowed to leave Israel, he would not return to testify against Olmert. in order to prevent that, the State filed motions for both a hold-departure order and the pre-trial deposition.
