TEL AVIV: An Israeli court yesterday sentenced ex-premier Ehud Olmert to six years in prison for bribery, making him the most senior politician in the country’s history to face jail for corruption.
Tel Aviv district court judge David Rosen also handed Olmert a fine of one million shekels ($290,000).
His lawyer, Eli Zohar, told reporters outside the courtroom that his client would appeal.
The 68-year-old, who was convicted six weeks ago on two charges of taking bribes, is the first former prime minister of Israel looking at a prison term for corruption.
Following a two-year trial, Olmert was convicted on March 31 of bribes to the tune of 560,000 shekels (now $160,000) with the judge also saying he had committed perjury.
Rosen said the prison sentence would begin on September 1.
The trial of Olmert and 15 other defendants, which lasted more than two years, was linked to the construction of Jerusalem’s massive Holyland residential complex when Olmert served as the city’s mayor.
In 2010, Olmert was named the key suspect in what came to be known as the Holyland affair on suspicion he received hundreds of thousands of shekels for helping developers get the project past various legal and planning obstacles.
Olmert was fifth in line to be sentenced, with three earlier defendants convicted of giving bribes, receiving lower sentences than demanded by the prosecution.
But the city’s former engineer, who like Olmert accepted bribes, received seven years of jail time.
In July 2012, a Jerusalem court found Olmert guilty of breach of trust but cleared him on two more serious charges related to the alleged receipt of cash-stuffed envelopes and multiple billing for trips abroad.
He was fined $19,000 and given a suspended jail sentence for graft.
The conviction related to favours that Olmert granted a former colleague while serving as trade and industry minister.
AFP
