OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AFP)
Israeli police on Friday started questioning Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in the course of investigating allegations of corruption, including suspicions of receiving kickbacks from a U.S. businessman, according to a newspaper report.
Olmert is already the subject of other inquiries, but the Yediot Aharonot daily said the latest affair was uncovered only recently by the authorities, although it allegedly took place before he officially assumed office in 2006.
The mass-circulation paper claimed the affair involved large sums of cash being given to a U.S. businessman who is being investigated and who implicated Olmert when he was questioned during a recent trip to Israel.
The Maariv daily said Friday's interrogation of the prime minister would be led by the head of the National Fraud Squad, Lieutenant Commander Shlomi Ayalon.
The premier's spokesman said on Thursday that Olmert was due to be questioned for about one hour on Friday morning, and that he would "answer all questions put to him by investigators as he has on all previous occasions."
Media reports said Attorney General Menachem Mazuz took the unusual step of permitting an "urgent" interrogation under caution of Olmert at his residence.
Olmert is currently the subject of three police inquiries over possible corruption.
The cases involve potential conflicts of interest, fraudulent property transactions and abuse of power in connection with political appointments.
In November, police said they did not have enought evidence to continue a months-long investigation into allegations of abuse of influence over the sale of the country's second largest bank.
The probe had focused on suspicions that Olmert, when acting finance minister in 2005 under former prime minister Ariel Sharon, tried to steer the sale of Bank Leumi towards a friend, Australian real estate baron Frank Lowey.
Bank Leumi was eventually sold to another company with no relation to Lowey. |
