Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has been sentenced to eight months in jail for accepting illegal payments from a U.S. businessman.The sentence stemmed from a verdict in March that found Olmert, while serving as industry and trade minister from 2003 to 2005, accepted cash-filled envelopes from anAmerican businessman who hoped to further his interests in Israel.
The court convicted him of fraud and breach of trust on the basis of new testimony from a former aide who had accepted a plea bargain.
Olmert’s lawyers said they would appeal to the Supreme Court against the new conviction and prison term.
A slew of character witnesses had vouched for Olmert, including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former Israeli Mossad chief Meir Dagan in written statements read aloud.
The verdict stated that it recognized Olmert’s vast contributions to Israeli society and sentenced him to less than the prosecution had demanded. Still, it ruled that ‘a black flag hovers over his conduct.’
The scandal began when Olmert, 69, was acquitted in 2012 of a series of charges that included accepting cash-stuffed envelopes from U.S. businessman Morris Talansky when Olmert was mayor of Jerusalem and a Cabinet minister.
Olmert was found to have received about $600,000 from Talansky during his term as mayor, and additional amounts in cash during his term as a Cabinet minister, but a court did not find evidence the money had been used for unlawful personal reasons or illegal campaign financing.
Talansky, an Orthodox Jew from New York’s Long Island, had testified the money was spent on expensive cigars, first-class travel and luxury hotels, while insisting he received nothing in return.
The acquittal on the most serious charges at the time was seen as a major victory for Olmert, who denied being corrupt. He was convicted only on a lesser charge of breach of trust for steering job appointments and contracts to clients of a business partner, and it raised hopes for his political comeback.
But Olmert’s former office manager and confidant Shula Zaken later became a state’s witness, offering diary entries and tape recordings of conversations with Olmert about illicitly receiving cash, leading to the retrial for which he was today sentenced. In the recordings, Olmert is heard telling Zaken not to testify in the first trial so she would not incriminate him.
The judges concluded that Olmert gave Zaken part of the money in exchange for her loyalty, and used the money for his own personal use without reporting it according to law. They convicted him on a serious charge of illicitly receiving money, as well as charges of fraud and breach of trust.
It comes as the former prime minister had previously been given a six-year term in a separate corruption case.
Last May, Olmert was sentenced to six years in jail for accepting $160,000 in bribes linked to a real estate deal in Jerusalem while serving as the city’s mayor.
Olmert, 69, is currently appealing that conviction in the Supreme Court, having denied wrongdoing in both cases.
He remains at liberty while the appeals process runs its course. A Supreme Court decision on the first appeal is expected in the next couple of months, his lawyers said.
Olmert became prime minister in 2006 but announced his resignation in 2008 after the corruption allegations surfaced, cutting short his pursuit of a peace deal with the Palestinians.
He stayed on until a new government took office following national elections in 2009.
