Defiant Olmert insists he never took bribes

Minutes after the Supreme Court upheld his conviction in one count of bribery and ruled that he would serve 18 months in prison, former prime minister Ehud Olmert on Tuesday maintained his innocence, highlighting a second bribery count in which he was acquitted.

The 18-month sentence was a far cry from the six-year term originally handed down by the Tel Aviv District Court in 2014.

Olmert was one of eight former officials and businessmen convicted in March 2014 in a corruption case officials have characterized as the largest in Israel’s history. He and others whose convictions in the case were upheld Tuesday will begin to serve out their sentences on February 15.

Speaking to reporters after the decision was handed down, Olmert sought to emphasize his relief over his acquittal in the more severe of the two bribery counts, while maintaining his innocence in the second one as well.

“The last four years were difficult,” he said, describing “a dark cloud that hung over” him and his family, and asserting that now “a heavy weight had been lifted” from his shoulders.

“I’ve said in the past that I have never been offered bribes and I have never accepted bribes, and I say it again today. But, naturally, I respect the decision of the Supreme Court.” he said.

Olmert added that his legal team would carefully study the ruling and may take further legal action.

“We will of course check what can be done from a legal point of view,” he said.

Former Jerusalem mayor Uri Lupolianski, who also appealed his conviction in the case and saw the court reduce his sentence from six years in prison to six months of community service, vowed to continue to serve the public.

“I thank all the people of Israel, who showed me great love,” he told reporters in the courthouse. “With God’s help, I will continue to serve the people. I am sorry for my friends who will be going to prison.”

Olmert was convicted in 2014 of accepting bribes when he served as mayor of Jerusalem and as minister of industry and trade, in exchange for helping win municipal approval for the Holyland residential development near the capital’s southwestern Malha neighborhood.

Tel Aviv District Court Judge David Rozen originally sentenced Olmert to six years in prison and two more on probation, alongside a million-shekel ($260,000) fine and the confiscation of some NIS 500,000 ($130,000) in assets. Rozen had ruled that the former prime minister must have been aware that NIS 500,000 was given to his brother Yossi and NIS 60,000 ($15,400) more to his longtime secretary Shula Zaken by businessman Shmuel Dachner, who turned state’s witness in the trial.

The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that there was insufficient evidence to assert that Olmert was aware of the money being funneled to his brother, but that he knew of the cash that Dachner was giving to Zaken.

Zionist Union chief and opposition leader MK Isaac Herzog said the court ruling sent a message to those in power.

“Let it be a lesson to all public servants — never use the power that is given to us as a sanctified trust for our personal benefit.”

“This is an important day in which the Israeli justice system, which some people have the audacity to threaten, again proved its greatness and the fact that there is no person, not even a prime minister, who is above the law in the State of Israel.”

Opposition MK Shelly Yachimovich of the Zionist Union party welcomed the court decision.

“Years of crime at the top of the leadership, accompanied by a violent attack on the rule of law, ended with the imprisonment of a corrupt prime minister who polluted state institutions,” she said. “This is an optimistic day for the elimination of corruption from our midst, a day in which every person knows that the rich and the poor, the weak and the strong, are equal before the law in Israel.”

Olmert faces an additional eight-month prison sentence in the so-called Talansky affair, which was delayed until his Holyland appeal drew to a close.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.