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Report: Police have Enough Evidence to Indict Olmert

The police have enough evidence to indict Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on money laundering charges, informed sources close to the investigation told the Israeli daily Haaretz.  

Israeli Attorney General Menahem Mazuz said he intended to decide soon on whether or not to indict Olmert.  

Meanwhile, the police are also trying to provide enough evidence for indictment on charges of accepting bribes.  

According to sources in the legal system, Olmert’s own admission that he had taken cash money without reporting it to the authorities is sufficient for pressing charges against him.  

Last Tuesday Moshe Talansky, an American-Jewish fund-raiser, gave his testimony regarding sums of money in cash that he transferred to Olmert for more than a decade, before the latter became prime minister.   

 

The money – amounting to $150,000 – was used not only for Olmert’s various election campaigns, but also, allegedly, for private use.  

"My prediction is that there will be an indictment," Yoram Shachar, a professor of law at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel, told The Media Line.  

"It may not be as major as some expect, but he has committed himself to resigning when there is an indictment. The minutiae of the criminal aspects of it are not important.  

"My guess is that within a month he will have to step down from office, because I am almost sure there will be an indictment," Shachar added.  

Meanwhile, Defense Minister Ehud Barak has called on Olmert to resign or take a vacation until the investigation in his matter ends.