Зарегистрирован: 06.03.2005 Сообщения: 12000 Откуда: Обер-группен-доцент, ст. руководитель группы скоростных свингеров, он же Забашлевич Оцаат Поэлевич
Добавлено: Вторник, 8 Сентябрь 2009, 13:08:37 Заголовок сообщения: Начался процесс против Ольмерта...
JERUSALEM — Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel was formally indicted on three counts of corruption on Sunday, concluding a lengthy criminal investigation that had forced him to resign.
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Pool photo by David Furst
Ehud Olmert, the former Israeli prime minister, in 2008.
According to the 61-page indictment, which the attorney general, Menachem Mazuz, and the state prosecution presented to the Jerusalem District Court, Mr. Olmert is accused of crimes including fraud, breach of trust, falsifying corporate records and failing to report income. If convicted, he could face years in prison.
Mr. Olmert has always denied wrongdoing. On Sunday, his media adviser, Amir Dan, said in a statement that the attorney general and state prosecutors, having brought down a prime minister, had no choice but to press charges against Mr. Olmert. The court, on the other hand, is free from such considerations, Mr. Dan added. “Mr. Olmert,” he said, “is therefore convinced that he can prove his innocence once and for all in court.”
The charges stem from three main episodes that unfolded over the last two years, as evidence turned up by investigators in one matter led them to another. All the cases relate to the period when Mr. Olmert served as mayor of Jerusalem and as a government minister, but before he became prime minister in 2006.
The most sensational of the three cases involved Morris Talansky, a Long Island businessman, from whom Mr. Olmert is alleged to have received more than $600,000, partly in cash-stuffed envelopes, from 1997 to 2005. Prosecutors accuse Mr. Olmert of hiding the money and failing to report it to the authorities. Though Mr. Olmert has not been charged with taking bribes in the Talansky case, he is accused of abusing his position as a government minister to promote Mr. Talansky’s private business interests in Israel and abroad, constituting a major conflict of interest.
Mr. Olmert is also charged with fraudulently billing multiple entities, including state agencies and charities, for trips abroad during his time in government. He is accused of amassing a secret credit account of more than $92,000 at his travel agency, which he used to finance private and family travel. The indictment includes a chart documenting more than a dozen trips that Mr. Olmert took to the United States, Europe, the Far East and other destinations, and charged two or more agencies for, from 2002 to 2005.
In a third scandal, Mr. Olmert is charged with promoting the interests of the clients of a longtime associate and former law partner, Uri Messer, while Mr. Olmert served as the minister of industry and trade. Mr. Messer, according to the indictment, provided Mr. Olmert with various services, including running a “secret fund” with cash from Mr. Talansky and other sources that was kept in a safe in Mr. Messer’s office, and later in a safe at a bank.
Mr. Olmert is also charged with failing to report funds that he received from other sources, including another American citizen, to the state comptroller, as he was required to do as a minister. Shula Zaken, Mr. Olmert’s close confidante and former office manager, was also indicted in connection with the various counts of fraud. She was also charged with illegal wiretapping. According to the indictment, Ms. Zaken secretly listened in on Mr. Olmert’s meetings, or got other staff members to do so, as a matter of routine.
Mr. Olmert resigned under intense public and political pressure last fall. He was already unpopular as a prime minister, largely because of what many Israelis saw as the debacle of the 2006 Lebanon war, but his political fate was sealed when Mr. Talansky, 76, a resident of Woodsburgh in Nassau County, took the stand in an early deposition here in May 2008.
Israelis were shocked by Mr. Talansky’s narrative of how he had transferred huge sums of cash to Mr. Olmert. Mr. Talansky said that much of the money was for election campaigns, but that some was for Mr. Olmert’s personal use. _________________ A la guerre comme a la guerre или вторая редакция Забугорнова
Зарегистрирован: 06.03.2005 Сообщения: 12000 Откуда: Обер-группен-доцент, ст. руководитель группы скоростных свингеров, он же Забашлевич Оцаат Поэлевич
Как пишет The New York Times, в воскресенье бывшему премьер-министру Израиля Эхуду Ольмерту были официально предъявлены обвинения по трем предполагаемым случаям коррупции - это решение стало итогом длительного расследования, из-за которого он, кстати, и ушел в отставку.
Текст официального обвинения, которое заняло 61 страницу, был передан представителями прокуратуры в Иерусалимский окружной суд. Ольмерт, в частности, обвиняется в мошенничестве, злоупотреблении доверием, предоставлении ложных данных о собственных доходах и подделывании документов. Если его признают виновным, поясняет NYT, ему может грозить не один год в тюрьме.
Как отмечается, Ольмерт по-прежнему не признает за собой вины. В воскресенье его советник по связям с прессой Амир Дан распространил заявление, в котором говорится, что у прокуратуры, спровоцировавшей отставку Ольмерта, не было другого выбора, кроме как предъявить ему обвинения. В свою очередь суд, выразил он надежду, иначе рассмотрит эту проблему. "Г-н Ольмерт убежден поэтому, что сможет доказать свою невиновность раз и навсегда в суде", - пояснил Дан.
Все обвинения, отмечает NYT, относятся к тому времени, когда Ольмерт был мэром Иерусалима и позже министром правительства - то есть к периоду до 2006 года.
Самое сенсационное из трех различных дел о коррупции связано с нью-йоркским бизнесменом Моррисом Талански, от которого, как предполагается, Ольмерт получил более 600 тысяч долларов, частью - наличными, с 1997 по 2005 год. Прокуратура обвиняет экс-премьера в сокрытии этих доходов от налоговых органов. При этом Ольмерту не инкриминируют напрямую получение взятки, ему вменяют в вину злоупотребление служебными полномочиями для продвижения коммерческих интересов Талански в Израиле и за рубежом, что неизбежно приводило к конфликту интересов.
Также Ольмерта обвиняют в предоставлении государственным службам неверных сведений о расходах в ходе иностранных визитов и в обладании тайным кредитным счетом на более чем 92 тысячи долларов, который он использовал для частных и семейных путешествий. В обвинении говорится о том, что в период с 2002 по 2005 год Ольмерт совершил более десятка таких поездок в США, страны Европы и Восточной Азии.
Среди прочих обвинений - продвижение интересов клиентов его давнего бизнес-партнера Ури Мессера и непредставление сведений об иных доходах компетентным органам.
Издание напоминает, что Ольмерт ушел в отставку осенью прошлого года из-за сильнейшего прессинга со стороны общественного мнения и политических оппонентов. _________________ A la guerre comme a la guerre или вторая редакция Забугорнова
Зарегистрирован: 06.03.2005 Сообщения: 12000 Откуда: Обер-группен-доцент, ст. руководитель группы скоростных свингеров, он же Забашлевич Оцаат Поэлевич
Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz filed an indictment against former prime minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday, marking the first time in the state's history that criminal charges have been brought against anyone who has held that office.
Olmert's close aide for several decades, Shula Zaken, was also cited in the indictment, which covers four separate investigations - the so-called Rishon Tours affair; Olmert's relations with his close friend, attorney Uri Messer, and US financial backer Moshe Talansky; his alleged deceptions of the State Comptroller's Office; and Zaken's alleged wiretapping of Olmert's conversations.
The indictment was filed in Jerusalem District Court after Olmert's battery of lawyers, headed by Eli Zohar, waived their right to a hearing before Mazuz.
Olmert's spokesman, Amir Dan, issued a statement after the indictment was filed declaring that "after they forced a prime minister to step down in the middle of his term, it is obvious that the attorney-general and the state attorney do not have, and never had, any choice but to file an indictment against Olmert. The court, on the other hand, is free of extraneous considerations. Olmert is convinced that in court, he can and will prove his innocence once and for all.
"It is important to remember that the Cremieux Street and Bank Leumi affairs started off with big headlines that lasted for years, and ended up in nothing. That is what will happen to these affairs as well."
The indictment is 60 pages long and includes a 10-page index detailing 17 trips Olmert took between the years 2002 and 2005 in which he charged the state and donors more than the flight tickets cost. The indictment states that Olmert also double-billed for hotel and transfer costs, but these are not included in the charges.
It also lists 280 witnesses for the prosecution and was signed by State Attorney Moshe Lador, Jerusalem District Attorney Eli Abarbanel and prosecutor Uri Korev.
In the Rishon Tours affair, Olmert is charged with obtaining something by deceit under aggravated circumstances, false entry into the documents of a corporate body, fraud and breach of faith, and concealing income by deceit.
Zaken is charged with obtaining something by deceit under aggravated circumstances, false entry into the documents of a corporate body, and fraud and breach of faith.
According to the charge sheet, Olmert and Zaken "exploited Olmert's status and the high public offices he held to conduct systematic and prolonged activity to obtain financial benefits for Olmert in various ways and from various sources, including by deceiving organizations, public institutions, the state and government officials."
In addition to defrauding the state, Olmert, Zaken and another Olmert aide, Rachel Raz-Risbi, allegedly cheated philanthropic and public organizations, including Akim - The Association for the Rehabilitation of the Mentally Handicapped, Israel Bonds, Yad Vashem, the Wiesenthal Center, the March of Life, the World Jewish Congress and others. Raz-Risbi has been charged separately in the Rishon Tours affair.
The indictment contains a chart listing 17 trips that Olmert allegedly made on behalf of more than one organization, sometimes with his wife and other times with security guards, in which Raz-Risbi, at his orders, supposedly charged the organizations more than what the trip actually cost.
Altogether, Olmert over-charged the state and these organizations by $92,000, according to the charge sheet. The money was allegedly kept in a secret account by the Rishon Tours tourist agency and members of Olmert's family used it for their private trips. The family trips added up to $100,000. Instead of Olmert making up the difference from his own pocket, Rishon Tours allegedly siphoned off the money from other clients without their knowledge.
In some cases, Olmert made up a false travel itinerary to charge more money, according to the prosecution.
Olmert also deceived the Finance Ministry by using Rishon Tours, even though it was not on the list of authorized travel agencies that could be used by government officials. He allegedly arranged with two travel agencies that were on the list to serve as "front men," while the actual purchases were carried out, illegally, by Rishon Tours.
Regarding the Talansky and Messer affairs, Olmert is charged with fraud and breach of faith and receiving something by deceit in aggravated circumstances. Zaken is charged with one count of fraud and breach of faith for her role in these affairs and in the Rishon Tours case.
According to the indictment, Olmert received $600,000 from Talansky between 1997 and 2005 and did not report this income. The sum included a transfer of NIS 104,500 from Talansky to Olmert's private bank account in June 1997, $300,000 to cover Olmert's debts from his election campaign for mayor of Jerusalem in 1998, gifts of $110,000 and €25,000 in 1999 and $30,000 in campaign donations.
In addition, the state charged that Talansky gave Olmert $100,000 in cash delivered by Talansky in envelopes to Olmert or Zaken in Israel or to Olmert in the US.
In return, Olmert allegedly intervened on Talansky's behalf to arrange appointments for him with businessmen, including with Sheldon Adelson and Yitzhak Teshuva.
According to the indictment, Uri Messer kept a secret cash fund for Olmert which amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Some of the money came from Talansky. Others, unknown to the state, also gave Olmert money. Zaken transferred the funds to Messer and kept tabs on the deposits. From time to time, Olmert would ask for some of the money. At one point, the fund amounted to $350,000. At first it was kept in a safe in Messer's office. Later it was transferred to a bank.
For this and other reasons, Olmert and Messer were involved in a relationship in which Olmert was indebted to Messer for his help.
Thus, the indictment maintained, Olmert should have kept a distance from Messer in his capacity as a minister.
But, according to the charge sheet, he did not do so. While serving as industry and commerce minister, Olmert had overall responsibility for the Investment Center, established to encourage investments in Israel. In that capacity, he actively intervened in the requests of businessmen represented by Messer for government grants. Two of the cases in which he granted the requests of Messer's clients, against the opinion of the professionals in the ministry, involved Silicat Dimona Inc. and Shemen Industries Ltd.
Olmert has also been charged with receiving something by deceit in aggravated circumstances, for providing false information and concealing facts from the State Comptroller's Office, while Zaken was charged with illegal wiretapping and fraud and breach of faith for allegedly eavesdropping on Olmert's phone conversations. _________________ A la guerre comme a la guerre или вторая редакция Забугорнова
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