Ehud Olmert

After publicly claiming that Benjamin Netanyahu, Sara Netanyahu and Yair Netanyahu were mentally ill and needed treatment, Olmert faced a defamation lawsuit. An Israeli court ordered him in 2022 to pay damages to the family.

Attribution

Personally implicated

Ehud Olmert was convicted in 2014 in the extensive Holyland property case and initially sentenced to six years' imprisonment. In December 2015, the Supreme Court overturned the principal charge underpinning most of the sentence, but upheld a bribery conviction on another aspect and set a sentence of 18 months. He subsequently served a combined sentence and obtained early release in 2017.

State of the evidence

Established by a court

Attribution

Personally implicated

Olmert pleaded guilty in 2016 to obstruction of justice for attempting to dissuade his former chief of staff Shula Zaken from testifying or cooperating in the Holyland and Talansky cases. The sentence was incorporated into the overall sentences he was serving.

State of the evidence

Established by a court

Attribution

Personally implicated

A State Comptroller report followed by a police investigation examined hundreds of appointments or alleged benefits granted to Likud activists and central committee members while Olmert headed several public bodies. Police recommended an indictment for breach of trust, but prosecutors ultimately closed the case in 2012.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

An investigation examined the allegation that Olmert had purchased an apartment on Cremieux Street in Jerusalem at a substantial discount in exchange for helping to accelerate or facilitate construction permits. The Attorney General closed the investigation in 2009 for lack of sufficient evidence.

Attribution

Personally implicated

Following the 2008–2009 Gaza war, Olmert declared that Israel would respond "disproportionately" to further rocket fire, a formulation that prompted criticism concerning proportionality in the use of force and civilian protection.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Personally implicated

A complaint alleged that Olmert had received approximately 250,000 dollars in bribes in exchange for assistance to Laniado Hospital in Netanya while serving as Industry and Trade Minister. The Attorney General closed the case in August 2009 for lack of evidence.

Attribution

Personally implicated

A State Comptroller report found that Olmert, then Finance Minister, had become excessively involved in securing a loan and handling land-related matters benefiting the Jerusalem College of Engineering before the competent professional bodies had completed their own assessments.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

Olmert was suspected of changing or influencing the terms of Bank Leumi's privatisation to favour a group including his friend Frank Lowy. Following questioning and investigation, prosecutors closed the case in December 2008, finding insufficient evidence to bring charges.

Attribution

Political responsibility

The State Comptroller criticised Olmert's involvement in the Aquaria tourism project near Eilat, finding that he had exerted inappropriate pressure on public bodies to advance financial support despite professional reservations about the project's viability.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

Prosecutors examined two separate complaints dealt with together concerning Olmert's property purchases in Jerusalem's Nahlaot neighbourhood and at the Melchett-Sheinkin junction in Tel Aviv. In October 2007, they found the evidence insufficient to open a criminal investigation; the Nahlaot matter was also time-barred.

Attribution

Personally implicated

The Winograd Commission, tasked with examining the conduct of the Second Lebanon War, found in its interim report that Olmert bore supreme and comprehensive responsibility for serious failures in the decision to go to war, including a decision taken hastily without a detailed plan or sufficiently systematic consultation.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

The State Comptroller found that Olmert, then the minister responsible for the Israel Land Administration, had intervened in the operational management of the Tel Aviv Dolphinarium case, directly accepted certain municipal requests and thereby undermined the role of the competent authority while apparently exceeding his powers as minister and board chairman.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

The State Comptroller criticised Olmert for intervening in the Investment Center's operations to favour consideration of public assistance requested by companies belonging to Rami Ben-Shoshan, a Likud central committee member. This matter is distinct from the Uri Messer criminal case: it concerns a different beneficiary and another series of interventions.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

Separately from the Winograd Commission's examination of the political and military conduct of the war, the State Comptroller issued a severe report on home-front preparedness and management during the Second Lebanon War, criticising in particular the Olmert-led government and the organisation of civilian assistance.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

The sale by Olmert and his wife of their Jerusalem residence to a British Virgin Islands company linked to the family trust of Daniel Abraham, a former political donor to Olmert, followed by the leaseback of the property at a rent critics considered low, prompted a review by the State Comptroller.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Personally implicated

In the aspect of the Greek Island affair concerning Olmert, authorities examined suspicions that he had assisted businessman David Appel's property interests in exchange for political support or other benefits. The case against Olmert was closed in 2004.

Attribution

Personally implicated

Olmert was prosecuted in an old Likud financing case involving suspicions of fraud and irregular political funding. His parliamentary immunity had delayed part of the proceedings; he was ultimately acquitted in 1997.

Legal status — source text

Acquitted / conviction overturned

Attribution

Personally implicated