State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss said on Thursday that there appears to be sufficient evidence to begin a criminal investigation of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on suspicion of involvement in the sale of Bank Leumi.

Lindenstrauss has already transferred the material he has gathered on the affair to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz. The attorney general will now have to decide whether to adopt a prosecutor's recommendation to open an investigation against Olmert.

The state comptroller began looking into Olmert's involvement in the Bank Leumi sale ten months ago, following his examination of the tender to privatize the bank. More than three months ago, however, he decided to stop the probe, in view of the grave evidence he had collected against Olmert, and to submit the material to Mazuz so that the latter could decide whether to open a criminal inquiry or ask Lindenstrauss to complete his examination.

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Mazuz reportedly registered dissatisfaction with this move in private conversations, and the Justice Ministry complained that it was not proper for the comptroller to transfer material to the attorney general before finishing his examination.

Consequently, Lindenstrauss decided to transfer the material to the attorney general formally, under an explicit clause in the State Comptroller Law, so that Mazuz could decide whether to order a police probe into the matter.

Meanwhile, the State Comptroller's Office intends to release a report soon on how various candidates financed their primary elections. The report will include findings on contributions received by Vice Premier Shimon Peres during his primary' campaign.

Peres received a $100,000 contribution from television and media mogul Haim Saban, one of Bezeq's controlling shareholders, as well as $100,000 from Swiss banker Bruce Rappaport and $120,000 from American-Jewish billionaire Daniel Abraham, founder of Slim Fast.

The comptroller is checking whether these contributions exceeded the permitted limit and were therefore illegal.

Lindenstrauss is not expected to recommend that Mazuz open a criminal investigation against Peres on suspicion of violating campaign finance laws. However, he may draw Mazuz's attention to suspected violations of the Gifts Law.

The State Comptroller's Office issued a statement saying: "There is no decision regarding Vice Premier Shimon Peres. A report on primary candidates from the various parties will be released soon."