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Olmert 'stonewalled police'
25/07/2008 11:55 - (SA)
Jerusalem - Israel's attorney general has criticised Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, saying he stonewalled police efforts to question him over corruption allegations, the press reported on Friday.
The complaint by Menahem Mazuz comes as Olmert's lawyers told investigators the premier would be available for questioning next Friday for two hours.
Police have not yet confirmed that the session will take place.
Legally police do not have to make an appointment in order to question Olmert, but they have allowed him to set the schedule in deference to his position.
But Mazuz said on Thursday that "police have faced serious difficulties in setting dates for questioning the prime minister, as well as in determining the length of the questioning.
"These are difficulties that the police have not faced in interrogations of other public officials, including past prime ministers," the attorney general was quoted in the Haaretz daily as saying.
"The prime minister needs to make himself available to the interrogators when asked to do so, in accordance with the investigation and within an appropriate amount of time."
Mazuz was responding to a High Court petition by journalist Yoav Yitzhak for Olmert to be declared incapacitated and removed from office. It also asked that he be required to appear at short notice and for as long as needed.
The attorney general said the petition was not one for the courts to deal with but for the prime minister and the political system.
Olmert's media adviser, Amir Dan, was quoted as responding: "As all requests for questioning were acceded to, the next date for questioning is also being co-ordinated at this time."
Haaretz also reported that Olmert rejects the accusations of stonewalling. He was questioned twice in May, each time for the hour that police requested.
On July 11, he was asked to make himself available for three hours but gave only two because he had to prepare for a trip to Paris.
On Friday YNet News reported that at that time law enforcement authorities had told it police aimed to complete the investigation against Olmert within several weeks.
The prime minister is currently battling six corruption investigations and denies any wrongdoing.
He has faced mounting calls to resign, not only from the media and the political opposition but also from within the ranks of his own fragile coalition.
- AFP
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