Aide: Olmert hasn't heard about inquiry |
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Wed, 10 Jan 2007 19:24
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JERUSALEM (AFX) - An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Wednesday the leader had no knowledge of reported police plans to question him about allegations he gave favors to business associates in the 2005 privatization of a major Israeli bank.A newspaper reported that Attorney General Meni Mazuz had ordered police to interview Olmert next week, after he returns from a trip to China.'We have no knowledge of such an inquiry,' said Jacob Galanti, an Olmert spokesman traveling with the prime minister in Beijing.The Yediot Ahronot daily newspaper reported Wednesday that police want to hear Olmert's account of events before deciding whether to launch a criminal investigation into suspicions that as finance minister he tried to help his friends win a controlling interest in the country's second-largest bank during the sell-off of the government's stake.Other media outlets reported that authorities are expected to open a criminal investigation against Olmert in the affair.Police declined to comment on the reports and the Justice Ministry did not return calls for comment.Yediot reported that the allegations, first raised in a report last year by a government watchdog agency, concerned businessmen Frank Lowy and Daniel Abraham, whose bids were ultimately unsuccessful.During his long political career, Olmert has been dogged by allegations of corruption, but has never been charged. The comptroller's office has looked into real estate deals in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and recommended a criminal investigation of Olmert's appointments when he was trade and industry minister.His longtime personal assistant, Shula Zaken, is currently under house arrest as part of a major police investigation into allegations of influence-peddling in the Israel Tax Authority.Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Israeli police arrest tax official 