Last update - 00:00 23/10/2007
Shendar opts against criminal probe of PM on real estate deals
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent
State Prosecutor Eran Shendar decided Tuesday not to order a criminal investigation into to real estate affairs involving Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
The affairs involve the sale of a Jerusalem home and the purchase of a Tel Aviv apartment.
Shendar's decision, which was accepted by Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, was based of a lack of evidence justifying a criminal probe regarding the Tel Aviv apartment, and the fact that the statute of limitations had expired regarding the Jerusalem home.
Olmert currently faces three concurrent criminal investigations, after Mazuz ordered a probe earlier this month into suspicions the prime minsiter granted improper political favors while serving as industry and trade minister between 2003 and 2005.
In a different case, the prime minister was questioned by police this monthtwice over suspicions that he tried to rig the sale of Israel's second-largest bank, Leumi, in favor of two associates during his tenure as finance minister.
Olmert is also suspected of buying a Jerusalem home from a real estate developer at a substantial discount in return for helping the builder obtain construction permits from Jerusalem authorities.
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