Olmert. Sixth interrogation
Photo: Reuters
Police investigators at PM's home (archives)
Photo: Gil Yohanan
Prime minister questioned for 6th time
Police investigators arrive at Olmert's official Jerusalem residence, probe him on his alleged involvement in recent corruption affairs
Police investigators arrived Friday morning at Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's
official Jerusalem residence in order to question him for the sixth time on his alleged involved in recent corruption affairs.
Investigators of the police's National Fraud Unit, headed by Deputy Inspector General Shlomi Ayalon, arrived at the Prime Minister's Residence about an hour before the interrogation was scheduled to begin in order to prepare the material and recording equipment.
The interrogation was expected to last about two and a half hours, but the prime minister offered the investigators an extra hour. This will likely not be his last questioning session.
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According to estimates, Olmert was questioned on funds he received from American businessman Morris Talansky and on allegations that he financed private trips abroad for his family by receiving duplicate travel expenses from different public bodies.
The prime minister may have also be questioned on additional affairs he is involved in, such as the suspicions that he helped grant favors to a factory represented by his former partner, Attorney Uri Messer, during his tenure as industry, trade and labor minister.
Senior police sources say that the evidence collected so far in Israel and abroad and the prime minister's questioning sessions have strengthened the suspicions against Olmert, and that the police would hand over the case to the State Prosecutor's Office with a recommendation to indict the prime minister.
The case is expected to be turned over to the State Prosecutor's Office in early September at the latest, and Attorney General Menachem Mazuz will have to decide whether to file an indictment or close the case.
