Olmert found guilty. District Court reverses Talansky bribes acquittal

In the case of the fraudulent misuse of donated funds against former PM Ehud Olmert, the retrial by a panel of three Jerusalem District Court judges Monday reversed his acquittal by a former panel in 2012. They overruled his defense and judged that he knowingly used $150,000 in the envelopes from US businessman Morris alansky for personal purposes and was therefore guilty of misusing funds, breach of trust and grave fraud. The court overruled the reasonable doubt which persuaded the former bench to acquit him of this charge, after hearing the new evidence presented by the prosecution of tapes and diaries secretly kept by his former secretary Shula Zaken while in his employ. She illegally received $30,000 of the moneys. The crimes were committed during Ehud Olmert’s term as Minister of Commerce and Industry. The court headed by Judge Rivka Friedman-Feldman will hand down sentence – up to five years jail – on May 5.