metro

Former PM Gets 6-Year Jail Term

Yifa Yaakov and
Lazar Berman
Times of Israel

E

hud Olmert was sentenced to six
years in prison, a two-year sus-
pended term and a fine of NIS 1
million ($289,000) in the Tel Aviv District
Court on May 13, with the judge issuing
a scathing rebuke of the former prime
minister.
The graft crimes for which Olmert was
convicted, Judge David Rozen said, were
"among the worst in the criminal code'
Rozen added that "without trust there can
be no upstanding public service."
Olmert will have 45 days to appeal the
sentence slated to begin Sept. 1, and the
Supreme Court will rule on whether he will
be jailed during the appeal process. If he
loses his appeal, Olmert will become the
first former prime minister to serve jail
time.
"The crime of bribery can pollute civil
service Rozen said. Bribery, he continued,
"destroys governments:' and is "one of the
worst crimes" in the penal code. The judge
added that public officials who take bribes

are tantamount to "traitors" because they
betray the trust of the public.
Olmert "held the most important and
central position and ended up convicted of
contemptible crimes:' the judge said.
Before reading Olmert's sentence, Rozen
called the former prime minister an "intel-
ligent, brilliant people person" and praised
him for being an "avid Zionist" and for con-
tributing to bereaved families and the Yad
Vashem Holocaust memorial.
The sentence was handed down over a
month after Olmert was convicted on mul-
tiple bribery charges stemming from his
involvement as mayor of Jerusalem in a mas-
sive graft scandal surrounding the develop-
ment of the city's Holyland hilltop residential
complex.
According to the decision, businessman
Shmuel Dachner, who would eventually
turn state's witness (and who passed away
mid-trial, hours after a cross-examination
session), gave Olmert's debt-ridden brother
Yossi Olmert post-dated checks for NIS
500,000 ($143,000) at Olmert's behest.
Dachner was representing real estate devel-
oper Hillel Charney, who was convicted
of money laundering and bribing Olmert,

his then-assistant — and future Jerusalem
mayor — Uri Lupolianski, and others.
Less than an hour before the sentencing,
Olmert professed his innocence and pro-
tested the harsh expected sentence. "This
is a sad day, on which a severe and unjust
verdict is to be handed down to an innocent
man:' the former prime minister said in a
statement.
Olmert's spokesman, Amir Dan, said the
former prime minister would appeal the
sentence in the Supreme Court in the hopes
that "the real picture will emerge and the
verdict will change completely:'
Rozen accused the defendants of "greed,
not to mention avarice," and said that their
punishment was severe owing to their
influential positions. "Those who belong to
the social and economic elite of the country
should not be held to the same standard as
the common people," he said.
Lupolianski, former council member
Avraham Finer and Olmert's top aide, Shula
Zaken, are to be sentenced next month.
A special team was being set up to handle
the unprecedented logistical and other chal-
lenges of sending a former prime minister
to prison.

Former prime minister Ehud Olmert at
his sentencing at the Tel Aviv District
Court on May 13

The state prosecutor, Yehonatan Tadmor,
had asked in April for severe punishments.
"The punishment in the Holyland case
must reverberate far and wide, fit the sever-
ity of the deeds, warn and deter" Tadmor
told the court at the time.
Olmert's attorney requested on behalf
of his client that Judge Rozen refrain from
sentencing Olmert to jail time, arguing that
similar bribery cases resulted in a maxi-
mum of 18 months of incarceration.
Tadmor countered that the corruption
unveiled in the case "is unique in its sever-
ity and in its effect on the State of Israel, in
the scale of the corruption, the financial
amounts involved in the bribes, the identi-
ties of the bribers and the bribe-takers,
and in the massive [real estate] projects
that were involved:'

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