The Israel Police today recommended closing the investigation into Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's conduct in the Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) affair. Police Investigations and Intelligence Department head Police Maj. Gen. Yohanan Danino and the National Fraud Unit head Shlomi Ayalon met at 2 pm today at the National Fraud Unit's Bat Yam headquarters to arrive at a conclusion on the case before handing it over to the State Prosecutor.
Since 2003, at the order of then-Minister of Public Security Uzi Landau, the police do not recommend whether to indict or not indict suspects, although in practice nothing has changed. The police only "offer an opinion" as to whether they believe that there is sufficient evidentiary basis for indicting a suspect.
Attorney General Menachem (Meni) Mazuz attaches great importance to the police investigators' opinion, especially in cases based on the credibility of witnesses. He therefore instructed the Police Investigations Department to include the investigation team's opinion in its case summations.
Danino also believes that in cases, especially those involving public figures, the police should express an unequivocal opinion regarding the evidentiary basis in a case. Therefore, despite disagreements between various police officers regarding the evidentiary basis in the Olmert case, the file will be handed over with a recommendation.
In the Bank Leumi affair, Olmert was suspected, when he was acting minister of finance in the Sharon government, of trying to bias the sale of the controlling core in the bank in favor of an associate, Australian businessman Frank Lowy. In the end, Lowy did not participate in the tender. Olmert allegedly did not recuse himself from involvement in the Bank Leumi tender, despite ostensible conflicts of interest.
The main problem in the case apparently is not the facts but the law. Olmert was suspected of breach of trust, a crime with fuzzy boundaries, and which is very hard to prove. Jurists and legal experts have criticized the concept, and have called for its removal from the criminal code.
Two other investigations are still underway against Olmert. One involves his purchase of the property on Cremieux Street in Jerusalem, in which he faces allegations ranging from breach of trust to bribery. Olmert is suspected of buying the property from the developer at a price below market value in return for promoting the latter's business interests at the Jerusalem municipality when he was mayor. The second case is the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor affair, when he held the portfolio, in which he is suspected of making political appointments.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 29, 2007
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