Police to question Olmert over Leumi allegations in 4-6 weeks

Police are due to question Prime Minister Ehud Olmert within four to six weeks over allegations that he interfered with the tender for the controlling interest in Bank Leumi, police sources said Sunday.

The suspicions date to 2005, when Olmert was acting finance minister. He allegedly tried to help Australian real estate magnate Frank Lowy.

The police investigation team has begun to prepare for Olmert's interrogation over the last few days, and has been collecting all the necessary evidence in the case prior to questioning him.

Fraud unit investigators returned last week from Australia, where they questioned Lowy and his son David, along with two Lowy group employees, regarding their decision not to compete in the Bank Leumi tender. Lowy's group pulled out of the bidding a short time before it closed. Neither Lowy nor the other four are suspects in the case.

Police said they were satisfied by the results of their inquiries in Australia and by the cooperation shown by Lowy, his son and his employees.

The tender was publicized in November 2005, four months after Olmert replaced Benjamin Netanyahu as finance minister in the Sharon government. Olmert pressed for changes in the conditions of the tender, which he said at the time were meant to attract investors of a different character.

The investigation itself began in January, after State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss examined the matter. The comptroller's office compiled the testimony of Finance Ministry accountant general Yaron Zelekha and other workers in his office.

	Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. (Archives)