Ex-Israli PM arrested for bribery

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, now 68, has been sentenced to six years’ imprisonment for taking bribes. This was the first criminal conviction of a former head of government in Israel.

Olmert has been credited for working towards a peace settlement with the Palestinians. He had denied any wrongdoing in a real estate deal which took place while he was in his previous post of Jerusalem mayor.

The politician was exonerated from most of the major charges brought against him involving his links to a US business. Those allegations forced Olmert’s resignation as Prime Minister in 2008, but his acquittal had put him in a position for a possible political comeback.

But in a new corruption trial, Judge David Rozen found Olmert gulty of two bribery charges, saying that he had accepted 5,00,000 shekels ($1,44,000) from the developers of the Holyland apartment complex in Jerusalem and 60,000 shekels ($17,000) in another real estate project.

Olmert’s attorneys were expected to ask the court that passed the sentence to allow Olmert to remain free until the Supreme Court passed a ruling against his conviction – a process that is expected to take months.