Olmert ponders AG offer for hearing prior to indictment in double-billing case

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's attorneys are weighing how to respond to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz's offer to hold a hearing for Olmert prior to charges being filed against him in the Rishon Tours double-billing affair.

The attorneys have yet to pick up the investigative material from Mazuz's office which is meant to assist them if they choose to have Olmert appear for a hearing before Mazuz.

A source close to Olmert said the prime minister could either choose to proceed with a hearing right now on the Rishon Tours charges, forgo a hearing or tell Mazuz that Olmert is willing to attend a hearing on condition that it includes all charges likely to be filed against the prime minister.

In the Rishon Tours affair, Olmert is suspected of double- and even triple-billing organizations, as well as the state, without the other organizations knowing he was billing any other body for his travel expenses when he went abroad in their service. Olmert allegedly used the money that accrued from this billing for trips abroad for his family and for travel upgrades.

"There is no economic, legal or other pertinent justification for splitting up the hearings. A person cannot be harassed every few months with a hearing. It's not practical and it does not meet the test of reasonability," the source said.

It is believed that a decision will be made in a few days after Olmert's lawyers consult with him, which will determine whether the material will be picked up from Mazuz's office.

A senior legal official in the State Attorney's office told Haaretz yesterday that from the moment the Attorney General decided to split up the various affairs and charge Olmert pending a hearing, the Rishon Tours case could then stand alone. According to the source, "The decision to split the cases was justified and it was made based on pertinent considerations. It is inconceivable that the attorney general would conceal a decision that was ready to be made out of extraneous considerations."

The official also said that if Olmert's attorneys are interested in a hearing they are welcome to hold it, and if they are not interested they are welcome to inform the law enforcement bodies of this fact, following which the State Attorney's Office will act.