Olmert's PR adviser: This affair, too, will end in nothing

Former prime minister Ehud Olmert's media adviser Amir Dan on Sunday defended his client's innocence, after the State Prosecution presented the court with indictment papers over three alleged corruption affairs.

Following news of the indictment, Dan accused the attorney general and prosecution of having no choice but to indict Olmert, after having forced him out of office.

"The court, meanwhile, is free of such considerations, and as such Olmert is convinced that he will once and for all be able to prove his innocence in court," said Dan.

"It is important to remember that the Cremieux and Bank Leumi affairs also began with giant headlines and dragged on for years and they both ended with nothing," said Dan referring to two other Olmert corruption affairs that were closed.

"These cases will end similarly," Dan added.

The State Prosecution on Sunday presented to the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court indictment papers against both Olmert and his former bureau chief, Shula Zaken, over the Rishon Tours, cash envelopes and Investment Center affairs.

The attorney general had earlier this summer decided to close a number of corruption cases against Olmert. In the most recent case, Mazuz cited lack of evidence over allegations that Olmert accepted some NIS 1 million in bribes in exchange for assisting the Laniado Hospital in Netanya.

The Laniado affair was the third case against Olmert to be dropped. The first closed was the Bank Leumi affair, in which Olmert was suspected of trying to help his friend, Australian real-estate magnate Frank Lowy, buy the controlling shares in Bank Leumi. Olmert, who was acting finance minister in 2005, was suspected of trying to change the tender conditions for buying the bank.

Late last month, Mazuz decided to close a separate corruption case against Olmert, involving the purchase of a home on Cremieux Street in Jerusalem. In that case as well, the attorney general cited lack of evidence.