Premier tells Israel he ‘never’ took bribe
Posted on Friday, May 9, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/National/225139/
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Thursday that he had taken contributions from a New York businessman starting in the 1990 s but that they were legitimate campaign funds, not bribes.
He added that he would resign if indicted as a result of a developing investigation into the affair.
New details emerged about the businessman, Morris Talansky, who is at the heart of the investigation. Talansky, 75, has a history of business disputes in the United States and Israel and a career as a fundraiser and investor.
In a late-night news conference at his official Jerusalem residence, Olmert spoke directly to the Israeli people.
“I look in the eye of each and every one of you and say, ‘ I never took a bribe. I never took a penny into my pocket, ’” he said.
The news conference, which followed the decision of a Tel Aviv court to lift a 10-day-old media gag order on the investigation, came amid Israel’s 60 th anniversary. And President Bush is due in Jerusalem next week to push forward negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
The police issued their first public statement in the case, saying that Olmert was suspected of receiving large sums of illicit money directly and indirectly over an extended period of time. They have already questioned him, his former close aide Shula Zaken and his former law partner Uri Messer.
At the news conference, Olmert said he had first met Talansky in 1993, the year he was elected mayor of Jerusalem, and had received contributions from him on several occasions over the years. But he said running for office was expensive and taking contributions was legal.