Last update - 00:00 15/11/2007
Police checking possibility PM violated campaign finance laws
By The Associated Press
Police are looking into the possibility that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert violated a number of campaign finance laws, police officials said. Olmert is already the target of three corruption probes.
No full-blown investigation has been launched, but police have in their possession a recording of a telephone conversation in which a political activist claims Olmert owes him $100,000 from a 1999 primary campaign, when he was in the Likud Party, officials said.
The loan would be problematic because it was not declared. The police officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss confidential police work.
The prime minister's office and police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld had no comment.
Earlier this week, Israel Police raided more than 20 government buildings and private offices, seeking evidence in a series of corruption probes of the prime minister. The allegations have politically weakened him ahead of a summit in the U.S. this month that is supposed to relaunch formal peace talks with the Palestinians after a seven-year lull.
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