Former Israeli PM Ehud Olmert Sentenced to Six Years in Prison, NIS 1m. Fine
More: Ehud Olmert Sentenced to Six Years in Prison, NIS 1m. Fine
Ehud Olmert was sentenced to six years in prison, a two-year suspended term, and a fine of NIS 1 million ($289,000) in the Tel Aviv District Court on Tuesday, with the judge issuing a scathing rebuke of the former prime minister
The graft crimes for which Olmert was convicted, Judge David Rozen said, were “among the worst in the criminal code.” Rozen added that “without trust there can be no upstanding public service.”
Olmert will have 45 days to appeal the sentence, and the Supreme Court will rule on whether he will be jailed during the appeal process. If he loses his appeal, Olmert will become the first former prime minister to serve jail time since the state’s founding. As things stand, he is slated to begin serving out his sentence on September 1.
“The crime of bribery can pollute civil service,” Rozen said. Bribery, he continued, “destroys governments,” and is “one of the worst crimes” in the penal code. The judge added that public officials who take bribes are tantamount to “traitors” because they betray the trust of the public.
Olmert “held the most important and central position and ended up convicted of contemptible crimes,” the judge said.
Before reading Olmert’s sentence, Rozen called the former prime minister an “intelligent, brilliant people person” and praised him for being an “avid Zionist” and for contributing to bereaved families and the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial
Wearing a royal blue shirt and khaki chinos, Olmert looked tired and subdued as he entered the court room. A Channel 2 reporter said he looked away as the judge read his sentence.
The sentence was handed down over a month after Olmert was convicted on multiple bribery charges stemming from his involvement as mayor of Jerusalem in a massive graft scandal surrounding the development of the city’s Holyland hilltop residential complex.
According to the decision, businessman Shmuel Dachner, who would eventually turn state’s witness (and who passed away mid-trial, hours after a cross-examination session), gave Olmert’s debt-ridden brother Yossi Olmert post-dated checks for NIS 500,000 ($143,000) at Olmert’s behest. Dachner was representing real estate developer Hillel Charney, who was convicted of money laundering and bribing Olmert, his then-assistant — and future Jerusalem mayor — Uri Lupolianski, and others.
Read more: Ehud Olmert sentenced to six years in prison, NIS 1m. fine | The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/olmert-sentenced/#ixzz31b9t0DQb
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