Opposition MKs: PM should quit over police probe into real estate deal

Opposition MKs were quick to demand Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's resignation in response to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz's decision to open a new criminal investigation against him, and even some coalition MKs lambasted his behavior.

"In no properly functioning state does a prime minister remain in office while under criminal investigation," said MK Zevulun Orlev (National Religious Party), chairman of the Knesset State Control Committee. "Instead of offering benefits to the Palestinians and releasing terrorists, the prime minister must step down immediately."

Meretz Chairman Yossi Beilin said that the attorney general's decision, as well as a long list of other investigations against the prime minister, raise very serious questions about his ability to carry out his the most important task on Israel's behalf at this time - namely, the ongoing talks with the Palestinians. But unlike Orlev, Beilin said that Olmert would have to step down only "if the investigation against him reaches the point at which charges are brought against him."

Labor MK Ophir Pines-Paz said that "the prime minister has become a serial [subject] of investigation, which leaves a heavy cloud over the government in general and over his ability to perform [his duties] in particular. I think the prime minister needs to apologize to the state comptroller [Micha Lindenstrauss] for besmirching him. The fact is that the suspicions are valid."

The head of the Likud faction in the Knesset, MK Gideon Sa'ar, seconded Pines-Paz, saying: "The attorney general's decision is a slap in the face to the campaign of delegitimization carried out by the prime minister and his cronies against the state comptroller and the law enforcement agencies. The fact that this is the second case involving the prime minister that the state comptroller passed on to the attorney general, and in which he then decided to initiate an investigation, suggests that the comptroller behaved professionally and that his evaluations relied on evidence."

The Prime Minister's Bureau issued a statement Monday expressing regret at Mazuz's decision, asserting that no wrongdoing had occurred and vowing to cooperate with the investigators.

"We are convinced and certain that the process of acquiring the Olmert family's apartment on Cremieux Street was honest, and regret the decision to continue the investigation, because it is unnecessary," the statement read.

"The purchase of the apartment, as was said in a response to State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss, involved no deviation from the rules of the market and accepted valuations."

"The prime minister will cooperate fully with the investigation in order to bring it to an end as quickly as possible," the statement added.