Police arrive at Olmert's official residence Photo: Oriyah Tadmor
Non-profit groups 'feel cheated' by Olmert
Employees at non-profit organizations that funded Olmert's trips abroad say they feel cheated by fraud suspicions against prime minister; law enforcement officials: PM was trying to waste time during Friday's questioning session
Testimonies provided by employees of various public bodies and non-profit organizations reportedly reinforced the suspicions against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and incriminated him. Officials at non-profit groups who spoke to police in the past month without realizing why they were questioned are saying that they now "feel cheated" by the PM, after police accused Olmert of fraud.
Olmert Probe
Police accuse Olmert of fraud, widen probe / Reuters and Efrat Weiss
Police widen corruption investigation, now probing whether PM received duplicate funding for trips abroad, used money to finance private family trips
Police and Justice Ministry officials announced grave new suspicions against the prime minister Friday. According to the latest accusations, several organizations were asked to fund Olmert's official trips abroad in his previous posts, with the funds being used to pay for the flights of relatives as well.
The government bodies that allegedly funded such trips include the Association for the Soldiers of Israel, the Industry, Commerce, and Employment Ministry, the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, and the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
According to the suspicions, the "Rishon Tours" travel agency sent each one of these organizations separate invoices for flights as if these groups were the only ones funding them.
Law enforcement officials told Ynet Friday evening that the travel agency's director provided incriminating testimony against the prime minister.
Olmert was questioned by investigators Friday, and officials later said that the prime minister was attempting to waste time, as police were only granted two hours for the questioning session. The officials said that Olmert repeated every question and even wrote some of them down in order to waste time. After two hours, he told investigators their time was up.
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