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Former Israeli PM Ehud Olmert handed six-year jail sentence Former Israeli PM Ehud Olmert handed six-year jail sentence
(about 1 hour later)
Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has been sentenced to six years in prison for taking bribes. The ruling on Tuesday is the first time a corruption case has resulted in the criminal conviction of a former head of government in Israel. Israel's former prime minister Ehud Olmert has been jailed for six years on charges of bribery by a court in Tel Aviv, becoming the most senior Israeli politician to receive a criminal conviction.
Olmert had denied wrongdoing in a real estate deal that took place during his time as mayor of Jerusalem. Olmert, 68, and a number of codefendants were jailed after being found guilty of receiving millions of dollars from the Holyland Development Company – the developers behind the Holyland luxury real estate project in Jerusalem.
His lawyers were expected to ask the Tel Aviv court that passed sentence to allow Olmert, 68, to remain free until the supreme court rules on an appeal against his conviction on 31 March, a process that could take months. The charges – which Olmert has always denied – relate to 2006 when he was mayor of Jerusalem.
Two years ago, the veteran politician was acquitted of most of the major charges brought against him in separate cases involving his links to a US businessman. Olmert's lawyers are likely to appeal against Tuesday's sentence and are expected to ask the Tel Aviv court that he remain on bail until then.
Those corruption allegations forced Olmert's resignation as prime minister in 2008, and his acquittal had appeared to position him for a possible political comeback. In a statement issued before the sentencing, the former prime minister appeared to anticipate a bad result. "This is a sad day, on which a severe and unjust verdict is to be handed down to an innocent man," he said.
But in the new corruption trial, judge David Rozen found Olmert guilty of two bribery charges and said he accepted 500,000 shekels (£86,000) from developers of the Holyland apartment building complex in Jerusalem and 60,000 shekels in a separate real estate project. Two years ago Olmert was acquitted of separate corruption charges relating to his dealings with a US businessman, which had forced his resignation as prime minister in 2008.
The result convinced many that the once-popular leader – a centrist remembered for his efforts to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians, but also as the architect of wars in Lebanon and Gaza in 2006 and 2008 – could re-enter politics.
But those hopes were dashed at the end of his two-year trial over the "Holyland affair" on 31 March, when the judge found him guilty of taking $144,000 from the developers of the project and $17,000 in a separate real estate deal.
Speaking in court on Tuesday, Rozen told Olmert that he had committed "one of the worst crimes under law" and described bribe-takers as traitors whose actions "polluted civil service", local media reported from the courtroom.
Nine other officials were sentenced to between three and seven years in jail on Tuesday.
The former prime minister is not the first Israeli politician to find himself in court over graft charges. In 2009, the former finance minister Avraham Hirschson was jailed for five years for stealing about $500,000 from the National Labor Federation.