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Talansky money trail: Olmert's ex-lawyer tells police how cash was handled
By Gidi Weitz, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Ehud Olmert, Israel 

On the morning of April 30, 2008, investigators from the National Fraud Squad accompanied attorney Uri Messer to a branch of Bank Leumi in Jerusalem, where the Jerusalem prosecutor had two safety deposit boxes.

In these boxes had been two tightly-packed bundles of U.S. dollar bills that Messer had held for years, in his own words, "faithfully for Ehud Olmert."

Messer, once a close confidant and lawyer for the prime minister, is one of those at the center of one of several corruption investigations into Olmert.
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Other key players are Olmert's former bureau chief, Shula Zaken, and Jewish American businessman Morris Talanksy, whose announcement that he donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Olmert sparked the inquiry.

"I told Ehud that [the money] is in the safe," Messer told police during questioning. "I didn't tell him which safe... he trusted that I knew how to look after the money."

Police: Who asked you to look after the money?

Meser: Zaken and Olmert... When Shula or Ehud wanted a certain amount they would call me and ask for it. I would go to the bank, open the safe and take out the money they wanted."

Messer said he knew where the money came from: "From conversations with Talansky, I understood that the money he gave to Shula reached me."

When investigators arrived at the bank with Messer in April, they discovered that the safe deposit boxes were nearly empty. One of the boxes contained a letter dated 2002, addressed to Olmert - then mayor of Jerusalem - and signed by Morris Talansky.

In the letter, drafted by Messer, Talansky told Olmert that he trusted him to repay the $380,000 in gurantee funds given to the United Jerusalem organization, which financed the bulk of Olmert's campaign during his race for mayor of Jerusalem.

Messer, who ran the United Jerusalem organization, had kept the letter for years in the Leumi strongbox, apparently with the understanding that the guarantee was a ticking time bomb.

The guarantee affair began in 1998, when Olmert was running for the position of Jerusalem mayor and stood at the head of a nonpartisan list for city council elections.

In second place on the list, Olmert had chosen former police chief Rafi Peled, who himself faced charges of breach of trust and fraud. Fourth place was given to businessman Haim Cohen, who had been convicted of bribery. Zaken's brother-in-law Yoram Karshi, who is set to stand trial over illicit tax charges, also secured a high place on this list.

With this cast of characters, Olmert set out to shame his opponent, Benjamin Netanyahu. The media had a field day with Olmert's political tactics - Jerusalem residents less so. Instead of the expected 10 seats, the list barely secured three.

The failure caused a huge hole in the United Jerusalem organization's bank account, which Messer asked Olmert to fix. "Olmert directed me to Talansky so I could cover the deficit," Messer said. "During that period, I got the idea to use the account opened under my name in which Talansky's money had been deposited, and if I'm not wrong, by then Talansky had already deposited cash connected to the sale of his apartment."

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      1.   Nu, nu, and then? And when? And what for? 13:24  |  S 23/07/08
      2.   Olmert will be tried and found guilty on many counts! 14:22  |  redmike 23/07/08
      3.   To redmike # 2 - Seeing is Believing..... 14:47  |  Dolly 23/07/08
      4.   Where then is all the Cash in the Deposit Box? 14:57  |  The Theadmill 23/07/08
      5.   MONEY LAUNDERING Cut and Dry 15:27  |  Ovadiah ben Avraham 23/07/08
      6.   Does one hand washes only one other hand? 17:54  |  H.H.M. 23/07/08
      7.   Why not think head and relocate the knesset to a prison 18:28  |  Helm of Chelm 23/07/08
      8.   Talansky is a Low-Life 20:32  |  MIKE 23/07/08
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