The US Justice Department has yet to reply to a request by Israel's state prosecutor's office regarding millionaire Morris Talansky. According to a report by the prosecution on Wednesday to the Jerusalem district court, Talansky will most likely not be present at a Sunday court hearing at which he was expected.
| Morris Entangled |
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| State to appeal to US against use of Talansky testimony as evidence / Aviad Glickman |
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One week after key witness in probe against PM announces he will not come back to continue testifying due to fears he may incriminate himself in US courts, Lador declares will appeal to US authorities to refrain from using testimony material |
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Talansky announced last week that he would not be returning to Israel to testify at the end of August in order to avoid self-incrimination. In response, State Prosecutor Moshe Lador and Jerusalem District Attorney Eli Abarbanel appealed to their American counterparts to refrain from using material from Talansky's testimony in Israel in any subsequent proceedings against him in the US.
A message relayed Wednesday to the Jerusalem District Court indicated that the state prosecution's representative Uri Korev had spoken with Jacques Chen, one of Talansky's lawyers, regarding the millionaire's testimony. Chen stated that, to his knowledge, his client had not purchased a plane ticket to Israel and apparently does not intend to testify next week.
The state prosecution blamed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's for impeding the court hearing, since they had not finished their cross-examination of Talansky prior to the latter's departure for the US.
In response, sources close to Olmert said that materials related to the case, which were meant to be provided by the state prosecution prior to the cross-examination, continued to arrive even afterwards.
They further claimed that the fact that the prosecution was willing to take a recess in the middle of Talansky's cross-examination proves the court's awareness of the long process still left in the hearing.
Olmert's Communications Advisor Amir Dan commented on the issue and said, "The State Prosecutor's office understands very well that the preliminary testimony taken from Talansky was wrong, and that it melted away during cross examination, and is only getting more and more complicated. The very act of requesting immunity just shows how trust worthy the witness is."
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