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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Olmert 'taking investigators for a ride' |
| 2008-08-09 |
| The Israeli Premier is 'playing for time' amid probes into a corruption case that is to force him into resignation, an ex-investigator says. Dep. Cmdr. Boaz Guttman, ex-chief investigator of Israel's national fraud unit, said that Ehud Olmert is resorting to a series of "tricks" in the course of investigations into his bribery case. Police investigators arrived at Olmert's residence in al-Quds for a fifth time on Friday to interrogate him over charges of receiving cash in bribes from a US businessman during his tenure as trade minister in 2006. "Techniques like writing down the detectives' questions [as seen in leaked transcripts of previous questioning sessions,] and asking for each question to be repeated, do not allow for enough time for police to complete the interrogations," the Jerusalem Post quoted Guttman as saying. Police did not say whether the Friday session would be the last, saying "When we're done, we'll announce it". The premier has been under fire to leave office due to the bribery charge that is the latest in a series of scandals over his conduct in the years before he took office in 2006. He has faced numerous investigations into his financial affairs from his 10-year term as mayor of Jerusalem (al-Quds), and then as a cabinet minister until he succeeded Ariel Sharon as prime minister in early 2006. Olmert announced last month that he would step down after a September 17 leadership election in his ruling Kadima Party. |
| Posted by:Fred |