Mazuz orders police probe of PM over purchase of J'lem home
Olmert suspected of having received an unreasonably low purchase price on Cremieux St. house.
By Yuval Yoaz Tags: Menachem Mazuz Ehud OlmertAttorney General Menachem Mazuz instructed police Monday to open a criminal investigation against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert over allegations that he benefited unduly from his purchase of a home on Jerusalem's Cremieux Street.
Olmert is suspected of having received an unreasonably low price on the house, allegedly as a result of his position in government.
The Prime Minister's Bureau issued a statement in response, saying "We are certain and convinced that the Olmert family's purchase of the Cremieux Street home was clean and pure."
"We find the decision to continue the investigation unfortunate, because it is unnecessary," continued the statement.
"The purchase of the home, as was stated in the response given recently to the state comptroller, did not deviate from the market conditions and acceptable value estimates," said the statement. "The prime minister will fully cooperate with the investigation in order to bring it to an end as quickly as possible. We are certain that the investigation will clearly find that the purchase of the home was ethical and at a proper price."
Once the initial phase of the investigation is complete, the findings will be presented to the attorney general and the state prosecutor, who will decide whether to continue the probe. As is customary for investigations of senior officials, Olmert can only be questioned under caution with Mazuz?s prior consent.
Mazuz's decision was based on an investigation conducted by State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss, which found that that Olmert received a $480,000 discount on the home - $330,000 more than the standard discount for paying in cash, as the prime minister did.
"[The fact that] a major public figure, a government minister, receives such a large discount on the purchase of a home, requires a detailed explanation without delay, according to the norms of transparency, ethics, and proper administration," wrote attorney Rina Karmef from the State Comptroller's Office.
The home Olmert purchased was one of several residential units that were part of a project that necessitated the transfer of a historic Templar building designated for preservation. When Olmert purchased the home, the project had yet to receive the necessary authorizations for the transfer of the historical building. According to Lindenstrauss, officials in the Jerusalem Municipality granted "excessive priority" to the project in order to accelerate the authorization process.
"Until the [prime minister] signed the contract, the full dismantlement and reconstruction of a structure was never done in Jerusalem, and only the decision on dismantling and reconstructing the structure allowed the Olmert family to receive the apartment in the agreed upon conditions," said the findings. "Advancing the granting of authorizations in a special and irregular manner to a public figure 'because he has rights in the city' is an improper act that harms the norms of proper administration."
The case is one of several involving suspicions against the prime minister, and was widely considered the weakest of the three affairs under study.
In a letter sent Sunday to MK Ophir Pines-Paz, Mazuz aide Ran Nizri wrote, "We will make every effort to speed up the handling of these cases, and we believe that the attorney general will soon make a decision on the various affairs."
Another of the affairs involves suspicions that Olmert gave special consideration to a company represented by his friend and former law partner, Uri Messer, in grant allocations by the Industry, Trade, and Labor Ministry's Investment Center.
A third involves suspicions that he made political appointments at the Small Business Authority.
Both of these cases, which involve Olmert's term as industry, trade, and labor minister, began with an investigation and subsequent scathing report by State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss.
Mazuz is expected to decide after the Sukkot holiday on whether to order an additional police investigation into Olmert regarding these and other affairs relating to his term as trade minister.
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The Jerusalem home purchased by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. (BauBau Archives) |
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Foss, your question on Israel's liberated Biblical and Historic land shows a lack of knowledge of the Holy Bible, History and Biblical Archaeology. It does not matter what the Islamist-Jihadists and their contaminated and manipulated puppets say. What matters is what the Holy Bible, History and Biblical Archaeology say about Israel since 4000 years ago. I would suggest you read a lot more books on the subject.
Greed seem to plaque Israel politicians, it seems they are all scarred by some crimininal element.Every other month or some thereis a high profile person in Israel, being investigated or indicted.Why does Jews constantly elect these thugs, or is it no other choice. Haven't said that, if these thugs can't serve the people who elect them well, how could they be possible peace partners. Who is really weak now, who????
You obviously don't know either Israel or a banana republic. Have you ever visited either one? Sure Israeli politicians are corrupt-but nothing compared to corruption in Italy. But two wrongs do not make a right and- thanks for being so concerned about Israel. "There`s a sweaty, incestuous feel to the place, with lots of pigs trying to get their noses into the trough" What exactly are you trying to communicate?How can you have a "feel" of a place you've never been to? You racist, foul-mouthed jerk. And don't give me your jewish girlfriend crap-concetration camp guards also had jewish women.
really clikky and you writing from the uk to call somewhere else corrupt. run by cronyism ! a banana republic ! you must start reading british papers and leave haaretz alone ! if you stopped writing about israel for a few months at wrote to our papers to put britain in order you would be doing britain a service !
Remember Sharon & Gaza: "The withdrawal will be as deep as the investigation"
"...to protect Israel`s national interests from external pressures, manipulations and usurpations of Israel`s liberated historic lands...." Very interesting. Especially the phrase "Israel's liberated historic lands," which the rest of the world calls the "Occupied Territories." Under what circumstances can they be called "Israel's" or "liberated" or even "historic"? Why Israel's? Whose liberation? Whose history? Why would Israel be "dismembered," if it were never originally "membered?" We need fresh thinking to address the need for the two "historic" peoples to co-exist peacefully. We can never reach that point with such characterizations of the remnants of Palestine and Trans Jordan. New leadership that brings fresh thinking will be most welcome throughout the region and world.
AG Mazuz may condition a favorable outcome or lenghty delay of the probe unless Olmert and Gangs favorably surrender to arabs extortion of Saudia 2002 initiative , Keep in mind , Israel the State under Kadima Gov't with High Court is the par excellence plea bargain state,
It is not helpful to point at others, sitting in a glasshouse. Britain is known for various scandals much worse than the case of Ehud Olmert, who is innocent until proven otherwise. We should remember that it was a Brit who gave Stalin the secret of the Atomic Bomb. It was a British defence secretary who slept with a woman in contact with the Soviet embassy in London. The heads of the British Secret Service defected to Moscow, jeopardizing the security of the whole Western World. The list could be prolonged at will. The case of Ehud Olmert, which has not yet been proven, is like a peccadillo compared to scandals known from the UK.
One must believe that Olmert has learned many a hard lesson since the good old days as mayor and mere government minister. Chastened and contrite as the PM is today, it is doubtful if he would now act in the the same high-handed and purely materialistic manner that led him to commit judicial transgressions. Can he be pardoned....? Well, we must wait and see. When is the next installment of this telenovella?!
"The Prime Minister's Bureau issued a statement in response, saying "We are certain and convinced that the Olmert family's purchase of the Cremieux Street home was clean and pure."" Let's be honest, Israel is a banana republic, characterised by cronyism, corruption, organised crime and bent deals of all kinds. There's a sweaty, incestuous feel to the place, with lots of pigs trying to get their noses into the trough. Ariel Sharon was as bent as they come - who could be the smallest bit surprised if Olmert was sold a house for less than its market value to buy political favours?
Israel, the only democratic island in the world, which is surrounded by sharks with teeth as long as swords, should not be engaged in self-mutilation. This frantic desire to prove how honest a society Israel is will only be seen as fresh meat for those deprived and depraved sharks who eagerly swim to and encircle scents of weakness. With supreme leader-sharks living in palaces and traveling in German-car motocades to their German-made bunkers, they must be LOL. In case someone also decides to also investigate whether or not the PM may have received an unfair discount on his dining room set or dishes, the investigator should have his photo sewn onto a white flag.
Perhaps we should lock Olmert in a jail cell for his own good ( and the good of society)
For security reasons, photos of the Prime Ministers home should NOT be posted on the internet.
We find the same situation when Sharon was PM. If this leads to new election so that the next government will have a strong mandate from the people as well as strong leadership to protect Israel's national interests from external pressures, manipulations and usurpations of Israel's liberated historic lands, that would be excellent for the nation. However, if this is a tactic for sqeezing balls as manipulated by the Lefties that will lead Israel to give, give and give and be dismembered, that would be bad for Israel.
How much embarrassment does the Israeli people have to put up with? How many investigations? How many probes of bad and illegal conduct? This man insults the parents of slain soliders that were killed in a war not one Israeli needed. He single handly has done more harm to Israel in 2 years then the Arabs have done in 40. From opening his mouth that Israel has nuclear weapons. Which everyone only thought he opens his mouth and now every Arab wants one. Israel its time to get rid of OLMERT THE VILLAGE IDIOT. HIS BEHAVIOR DOES NOT NEED TO BE ACCEPTED BY ISRAELI'S. It's time for New Elections to be called by all Israeli's.
Those old labor Mapai-niks had a few worthwhile values before they went south. A lot of the baby has gotten thrown out with the bath.
Any time the "elite" want to give more land away to the enemy, they dig up some dirt on those in power. And as those in power are weak and only interested in their own self-perservation, it looks like Israel is going to get smaller...
s ,we'll get you?
if they nail him on this one? They finally got Al Capone for tax evasion, didn't they?