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Olmert not charged over bank
29/11/2007 22:12 - (SA)
Jerusalem - Israeli police concluded on Thursday that there was insufficient evidence against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to recommend corruption charges against him over the
sale of a state-owned bank.
The Israeli prime minister returned home on Thursday after
peace talks in Washington with Palestinian leaders hosted by
US President George W Bush.
He is still the subject of other investigations into possible corruption and a public inquiry into his conduct during last year's war in Lebanon.
"Police came to the conclusion there are no grounds to charge Prime Minister Olmert in the Bank Leumi case," police spokesperson Mickey Rosenfeld said.
"This conclusion was reached by police investigators after examining the evidence in the case."
Investigations continue
State prosecutors must examine the police evidence and
recommendation before the case can be formally closed.
A police investigation had probed whether Olmert, when he was finance minister, had tailored the sale of a bank to favour a friend. The friend did not buy the bank.
Police are still investigating whether Olmert, before he
succeeded Ariel Sharon as prime minister in early 2006, profited
improperly in the purchase of a home in Jerusalem or broke laws
in two cases involving state subsidies and government jobs.
The United States has rallied behind him and diplomats say
Washington appears anxious that Olmert, a centrist who heads a
fractious coalition with right-wingers and Labour, might be
forced from office.
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