Thursday, May 08, 2008

Finally, The News

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert admitted on Thursday that he accepted campaign donations from an American businessman, but denied that they were bribes
and said he would only resign if he were indicted.

Olmert is suspected of illicitly receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars from Morris (Moshe) Talansky, according to the details of an investigation currently being carried out against him.

The Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court on Thursday relaxed a sweeping media gag order that has prevented the reporting of details on the probe, at the request of police and judicial officials. Olmert was questioned last Friday and the gag order was initially meant to remain in place until early next week.



In a terse, late-night televised statement to journalists at his residence in Jerusalem, Olmert said that a lawyer had handled his finances and that everything had been done legally. "I never took bribes, I never took a penny for myself, he said."

He said he would not fight to stay in office if he is charged. "If I am indicted, I will resign my post," he said, adding that he believed the crisis over the investigation would soon blow over.


and here

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is suspected of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from an American citizen, Moshe Talansky, various media outlets reported Thursday.

Channel 10 reported that Talansky was a middleman for illegal campaign contributions, and that he readily told Israeli interrogators everything he knew about the case.

2 comments:

Suzanne Pomeranz said...

Hummm - well, I think Mazuz should take a VERY close look at the books of the "NEW Jerusalem Foundation" set up by Olmert when the real Jerusalem Foundation refused to make him chairman...

Just a thought...

Suzanne Pomeranz said...

One more thing - not that I really do see a conspiracy theory of dismantling Israel behind or under every stone, BUT - it's curious that:

1) this came to light right after Condi's recent visit (in which nothing, as usual, was accomplished but ahead of Bush's visit next week)

2) it is being spread around that if Olmert resigns, Livni will move into the PM spot, at least until elections

3) Livni, to the delight, I'm sure, and certainly direction of the American administration is rumored to already have started giving away parts of Jerusalem... With her in the PM's seat, maybe the State Dept. thinks they can finish the job more quickly?

So - is this a set up, but not by any local politicos???

Again - just a thought.