Olmert: I knew nothing
Photo: Ohad Zoigenberg
Olmert pleads innocence in 'Rishontours' affair
Former prime minister says bureau chief, travel coordinator handled billing for all flights abroad
Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert denied
all charges against him in the Rishontours affair in
a response filed Thursday with the Jerusalem District Court.
He accused his former bureau chief Shula Zaken of the double-billing claims against him, saying he knew nothing of administrative issues at the time.
Olmert's attorneys said in the filed response that Zaken and Rachel Risby-Raz, who served as his travel coordinator, were responsible for all of the details of his trips abroad, including his schedule of meetings and events and the billing of travel expenses.
Olmert claims that due to the exhausting nature of his schedules abroad he had ordered his employees to bill the organizations before which he volunteered to speak, in order to ensure that he fly and stay "in the best possible conditions, which facilitate the completion of his many obligations", the response says.
"The defendant trusts the people of his office to do their jobs responsibly and devotedly, with transparency and professionalism, and he is convinced that in their conduct they did not go astray, but acted innocently and lawfully," Olmert's attorneys add.
Regarding the prosecution's claims of fraudulent bills and fictional flights, Olmert claims he was totally immersed in the public issues he was handling and knew nothing of administrative concerns.
