Legal official: Evidence against Olmert in appointments probe strengthens

The case against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on whether he made improper appointments when he was minister of industry, trade and labor has strengthened, a law-enforcement official said. The official spoke after Olmert was questioned on Friday for the 13th time; the session lasted three and a half hours at the prime minister's residence in Jerusalem.

"The prime minister has not managed to refute the main suspicions against him," the official said.

After the questioning under warning, a police official close to the investigation added that the team had compiled a "proper evidentiary foundation" against Olmert.

The police have asked the prime minister to set aside a number of additional sessions for questioning.

"The investigation in this affair depends at the moment mainly on the frequency of meetings between the investigators and Olmert," a source close to the investigation said.

"If Olmert can set aside more time for the investigators in his schedule, the amount of time they need [to complete the investigation] will be considerably shortened."

Olmert's media adviser, Amir Dan, thought otherwise. "The situation in which unknown parties in the police who have no idea about the investigation are leaking misleading and mistaken details is intolerable," he said. "Those in charge should put an end to this tendentiousness. If things were as clear as these anonymous individuals are trying to present them, why do the police continue to waste precious time on more and more hours of questioning?"

The investigation was sparked by State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss' report on the period at the beginning of 2004 when Olmert was minister of industry, trade and labor, with Ra'anan Dinur as his director general. The report noted how the two created a new post at the ministry's Small Businesses Authority, of deputy director. The post, which included responsibility for initiating projects, went to attorney Lilach Nehemia, who at the time was the companion of then-finance minister Abraham Hirchson, an associate of Olmert.

After Nehemia's appointment, at least three project managers were appointed who were members of the Likud Central Committee.

Dinur, now director general of the Prime Minister's Office, was questioned under warning on the affair a few months ago, as was cabinet secretary Oved Yehezkel, Olmert's senior ministerial aide at the time.