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| Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert to serve six years for bribery charges | Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert to serve six years for bribery charges |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| JERUSALEM — Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert was sentenced Tuesday to six years in prison and ordered to pay a fine of about $290,000, after being convicted last March of accepting hundreds of thousands of shekels in bribes to build a luxury real estate complex in Jerusalem more than a decade ago. | |
| Describing Olmert’s acts — which took place while he was mayor of Jerusalem from 1993-2003 — as moral turpitude, Tel Aviv District Court Judge David Rosen said that the higher the public post of an individual, the harsher the punishment for bribery should be. | |
| Even though Olmert, who served as Israel’s prime minister from 2006-09, was already found guilty for the crimes, the judge’s harsh words and the prospect of jail time for a former prime minister sent shockwaves through the political establishment and through society, with many referring to it as a sad day in Israel’s history. | |
| This is the first time such a high-level Israeli official has been found guilty of a breach-of-trust crime, although former president Moshe Katsav is currently serving a seven-year sentence for rape and, in the past, several government ministers have been convicted of crimes. | |
| “This is a sad day for me, personally,” President Shimon Peres told Israeli reporters during a state visit to Norway. “But this is the legal process which is custom in democratic states.” | “This is a sad day for me, personally,” President Shimon Peres told Israeli reporters during a state visit to Norway. “But this is the legal process which is custom in democratic states.” |
| Peres’s words were echoed by Finance Minister Yair Lapid, whose politician father Tommy Lapid was close friends with Olmert. | Peres’s words were echoed by Finance Minister Yair Lapid, whose politician father Tommy Lapid was close friends with Olmert. |
| “A day in which a former prime minister is sent to jail is a sad day for Israeli democracy as well as a sad day for me on a personal level,” Lapid told reporters. “But at the same time, it is an important day in which the legal system showed that no man is above the law.” | “A day in which a former prime minister is sent to jail is a sad day for Israeli democracy as well as a sad day for me on a personal level,” Lapid told reporters. “But at the same time, it is an important day in which the legal system showed that no man is above the law.” |
| Six other officials in the case also were sentenced Tuesday, including the former prime minister’s chief engineer, Uri Shitrit, who will serve seven years. Others involved received between three- and five-year sentences. Additional officials, including another former Jerusalem mayor, Uri Lupolianski, will be sentenced in the coming months for their parts in the affair. | |
| The judge said Olmert and the others sentenced Tuesday would head to jail on Sept. 1, giving them a chance to appeal. Olmert’s spokesman Amir Dan said that the former prime minister would take his case to Israel’s Supreme Court. | |
| “Generally speaking, this is probably the biggest corruption affair in the history of Israeli politics,” said Doron Navot, a lecturer in the school of political science at Haifa University. “Not only in terms of the seniority of the participants or in the fact that it took place over many years and involved so many people but also because it involved huge sums of money and caused visible damage to the public interest.” | |
| Navot, however, said that the ruling did not reflect a turning point in Israel’s judiciary or political system. | Navot, however, said that the ruling did not reflect a turning point in Israel’s judiciary or political system. |
| “This affair took place more than a decade ago, it does not reflect Israeli politics and it does not reflect reality, not today and not back then,” said Navot, author of several books on Israeli public corruption. | “This affair took place more than a decade ago, it does not reflect Israeli politics and it does not reflect reality, not today and not back then,” said Navot, author of several books on Israeli public corruption. |
| Although Olmert plans to appeal the verdict, Navot said it’s unlikely he will be successful and, along with the others convicted, will go to jail Sept. 1. | Although Olmert plans to appeal the verdict, Navot said it’s unlikely he will be successful and, along with the others convicted, will go to jail Sept. 1. |
| Israel Prison Services Commissioner Aharon Franco said that imprisoning a former prime minister was “exceptional” and that discussions already had taken place to ensure his safety while in prison. | |
| Speaking at a policy conference in Jerusalem Tuesday, Franco said that Olmert, as a former prime minister, had high-level knowledge of state secrets and his time in jail would be coordinated with Israel’s Security Agency. |