Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was questioned by anti-fraud officers on Friday for the sixth time since claims emerged in May that he had illegally received funds from a US financier. As was the case in previous interviews, police spoke to Olmert, 62, at his official residence in Jerusalem. Media said the questioning lasted three and a half hours.
Dogged by six separate graft investigations, Olmert announced on June 30 that he would step down after his centrist Kadima party holds elections in mid-September, but insisted he was innocent of the allegations against him. Israeli media said the officers questioned Olmert on several of the claims of wrongdoing when he was mayor of Jerusalem and trade and industry minister in the years before he became premier in 2006.
Friday's questioning was the sixth since allegations emerged in May that Olmert had accepted funds illegally from wealthy US financier Morris Talansky to finance his political campaigns and his lifestyle.
Talansky testified in May to having given Olmert about 150,000 dollars, but he later faced a blistering cross-examination with the premier's lawyers accusing him of making contradictory statements and of lying. Talanski's lawyers said last week that their client would not give further testimony in Israel to avoid incriminating himself in a grand jury investigation being conducted against him in New York.
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