A long-time aide who managed Ehud Olmert's travel, defended the Israeli prime minister on Saturday against a new accusation that he committed fraud by submitting duplicate expense claims. "The prime minister is not a thief and not a cheat," Rachel Risby-Raz said in a written statement a day after Olmert was quizzed by police about his travel claims - his third interrogation since being accused of corruption in May.
Olmert, who was set to fly to a Mediterranean Union summit in Paris later on Saturday, has not commented on the widening of the probe to include alleged fraud. Previously he admitted taking cash from an American financier. He denied wrongdoing, describing it as campaign donations, but said he would resign if indicted.
Risby-Raz, who said she had also been questioned but was not a suspect, also said: "He did not put a shekel in his own pocket and did not use public funds for his family." "I respect and venerate the prime minister, with whom I have worked for more than seven years. Everyone who knows him knows he is a great, warm and caring person with amazing abilities."
It was a rare, outspoken vote of confidence for Olmert, who has been forced to agree to a leadership election within his centrist Kadima party in September in order to appease allies in Kadima and in his main coalition partner, the Labour party.
On Friday, police said they suspected Olmert's travel agent sent invoices to various public bodies to cover trips by Olmert when he was mayor of Jerusalem and then trade minister. The result was a duplication of incoming funds, with the surplus being placed in an account used to fund Olmert's private travel.
STRATEGY? Among those Olmert will meet in Paris are French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The prime minister has been stressing his activity in making peace with Israel's many enemies - including opening indirect talks with Syria, whose president will be in Paris, agreeing a truce with Hamas in the Gaza Strip and arranging an exchange of prisoners and remains with Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas.
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