Olmert 'to be charged' with corruption

[Scurrilous]

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"Israel’s Attorney General announced today that he was planning to bring criminal charges against Ehud Olmert, the outgoing Prime Minister, for fraud, abuse of confidence and falsification of documents.

Menachem Mazuz, the Attorney General who investigated the Prime Minister on several corruption cases, said that Mr Olmert could be indicted over allegations that he submitted duplicate billing of travel expenses. The case was one of several scandals that forced Mr Olmert to submit his resignation.

No date has yet been set to formally charge the Prime Minister, said the Justice Ministry. Mr Olmert will first be offered a hearing to defend himself, after which the Attorney General will make his final decision on the indictment.

Mr Olmert is suspected of double and occasionally triple-billing organisations for private flights taken during his term as Mayor of Jerusalem and Industry and Trade Minister from 2003-2006. Police believe that while Mr Olmert received state funding for work trips, his flight co-ordinator, Rachel Risby-Raz, and former bureau chief Shula Zaken asked one or more other public bodies to finance the same flights. Each organisation believed it was supporting Mr Olmert’s working trips abroad, and was not aware that other parties were also footing portions of the bill."

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72% of public rate gov't as corrupt

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3628171,00.html

Poll conducted ahead of Israel-Sderot Conference on Social Issues shows political parties viewed as most corrupt bodies in Israel with 69% rating, followed by government offices at 46%. IDF, defense establishment receive highest score, with only 11% viewing them as corrupt

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"Seventy-two percent of the Israeli public rated the general level of corruption in the Israeli government as "high to very high," a corruption index poll taken ahead of the Israel-Sderot Conference on Social Issues revealed.

The poll, published on Tuesday, showed that only 1% of the public rated the corruption level as "low to very low," compared to 9% in 2007.

The political parties were perceived as more corrupt than in the past two years - a 10% rise to 69% this year, compared to 59% in 2007 and 58% in 2006 was recorded.

Government offices came in second place, with 46% of the public finding them corrupt compared to 44% in 2007 and 2006.

The Knesset is the third most corrupt body according to the poll, getting 44% of the public's votes this year and in 2007 compared to 46% in 2006.

Other bodies viewed as "corrupt to very corrupt" include local authorities (37%), manpower companies (33%) media outlets (30%), the police (29%) and the Histadrut labor union federation (27%).

Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Force and the defense establishment are viewed as well functioning bodies, with only 11% of the public rating them as "corrupt to very corrupt," compared to 12% last year."