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Olmert 'not a thief'
12/07/2008 19:34 - (SA)
Jerusalem - A long-time aide who managed
Ehud Olmert's travel, defended the Israeli prime minister on
Saturday against a new accusation that he committed fraud by
submitting duplicate expense claims.
"The prime minister is not a thief and not a cheat," Rachel
Risby-Raz said in a written statement a day after Olmert was
quizzed by police about his travel claims - his third
interrogation since being accused of corruption in May.
Olmert, who was set to fly to a Mediterranean Union summit
in Paris later on Saturday, has not commented on the widening of
the probe to include alleged fraud.
Previously he admitted taking cash from an American
financier. He denied wrongdoing, describing it as campaign
donations, but said he would resign if indicted.
Risby-Raz, who said she had also been questioned but was not
a suspect, also said: "He did not put a shekel in his own pocket
and did not use public funds for his family."
"I respect and venerate the prime minister, with whom I have
worked for more than seven years. Everyone who knows him knows
he is a great, warm and caring person with amazing abilities."
It was a rare, outspoken vote of confidence for Olmert, who
has been forced to agree to a leadership election within his
centrist Kadima party in September in order to appease allies in
Kadima and in his main coalition partner, the Labour party.
On Friday, police said they suspected Olmert's travel agent
sent invoices to various public bodies to cover trips by Olmert
when he was mayor of Jerusalem and then trade minister. The
result was a duplication of incoming funds, with the surplus
being placed in an account used to fund Olmert's private travel.
Strategy?
Among those Olmert will meet in Paris are French President
Nicolas Sarkozy and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The prime minister has been stressing his activity in making
peace with Israel's many enemies - including opening indirect
talks with Syria, whose president will be in Paris, agreeing a
truce with Hamas in the Gaza Strip and arranging an exchange of
prisoners and remains with Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas.
Some critics say the activity, plus US-sponsored peace
talks with Abbas that would be jeopardised if Olmert is forced
out, are part of the prime minister's strategy to save his job.
Olmert was mayor of Jerusalem for 10 years until 2003. He
later served as a cabinet minister before succeeding Ariel
Sharon as prime minister in early 2006.
The initial corruption inquiry, which judicial sources say
involves hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash payments over
a decade from the early 1990s, broke two months ago when
detectives moved at short notice to question Olmert on May 2.
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