Last update - 00:00 29/11/2007
Police recommend closing case into Olmert on Bank Leumi affair
By Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondent
Israel Police recommended Thursday that the State Prosecution close the criminal case into Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's role in the privatization of Bank Leumi, citing a lack of evidence.
Police will now hand their recommendation along with the investigative material to the prosecution, which will determine whether to continue legal proceedings.
The Prime Minister's Office said Olmert would refrain from responding to the developments until after the prosecution decision, Israel Radio reported.
The investigation team met Thursday afternoon with the head of police investigations and intelligence Yohanan Danino, unanimously deciding that there was not enough evidence to justify charging the prime minister.
"The investigation team unanimously believes that the evidence does not necessarily support a single and sole version [of events]," said a statement released by police. "Due to all of the aforementioned material, the National Fraud Investigation Unit's senior officers and the investigation team are convinced that there is an insufficient evidentiary basis against Olmert to support the charge of breach of trust."
The tender for Leumi's privatization was issued in November 2005, about four months after Olmert replaced Benjamin Netanyahu as finance minister. At Olmert's insistence, several changes were made in its terms, including a new method of calculating the exercise price of the options that were included in the sale package.
Olmert said the changes were designed to encourage strategic investors to bid for the bank. However, suspicions later arose that the changes had in fact been aimed at aiding a bid by Australian businessman Frank Lowy, an old friend of Olmert's. In the end, however, Lowy did not bid for the bank.
The prime minister was questioned under caution about the affair last month.
In recent months, police focused on trying to determine whether the changes Olmert imposed actually reflected Lowy's interests.
In recent weeks, sources involved in the investigation had said that it was possible to adopt two contradictory legal assessments of Olmert's behavior, the first of which would have justified charges, while the other would not.
The same sources said the team became convinced in recent days that recommending against an indictment would be the right course of action, due to concerns that prosecutors would have a hard time convincing the court to adopt the first assessment.
Police had originally planned to issue the recommendation on Sunday - just two days before the U.S.-sponsored Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, but delayed the announcement after being approached on the matter by numerous MKs and public figures.
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